
Glass 
Book. 






Gopyriglit^^. 



COPyRIGlW DEPOSm 



WEEDS 



AND 



HOW TO ERADICATE THEM 



BY 

THOMAS SHAW 

W 

Formerly Professor of Agriculture in the Ontario Agricultural 
College, Guelph, Ontario. 



THIRD EDITION 

(REVISED) 




COPYRIGHT. 1911 

BY 

THE WEBB PUBLISHING CO. 



€ CI.A288-982 



PREFACE. 

The aggregate of loss to the farmer 
resulting from the extent to which weeds 
prevail on the average farm is very great. 
It is equally true that such loss could in a 
great measure be prevented. That it is 
not prevented is due not so much to indif- 
ference on the part of the farmer as to 
the extent to which the presence of weeds 
will be tolerated, as to a lack of informa- 
tion with reference to the most effective 
methods of fighting them. This book has 
been written in the hope that it will in 
some measure supply this need. In this, 
the third edition, several weeds are included 
in the discussion that are not considered in 
the previous editions. Much has also been 
added with reference to eft'ective methods 
of eradication based upon recent experi- 
mentation. 

The author wishes to acknowledge his 
indebtedness to Hon. Geo. H. Clark, Seed 



Commissioner of the Dominion of Canada, 
for the use of certain cuts contained in 
this book, which are reproduced from 
'Tarm Weeds of Canada," and to Profes- 
sor H. L. Bolley of the North Dakota 
Experiment Station for the ilkistration of 
spraying machinery. 

THOMAS SHAW. 

St. Paul, Minn., Feb. 2, 191 1. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE. 

Chapter I. 
The Prevalence of Weeds 7 

Chapter II. 
The Evils which Arise from the Presence of 

Weeds 13 

Chapter III. 
The Possibility of Destroying Weeds 21 

Chapter IV. 
The Agencies Concerned in the Distribution 

and Propagation of Noxious Weeds.. 40 

Chapter V. 
Methods and Principles Generally Applicable 

in the Destruction of Weeds 58 

Chapter .VI. 
Specific Modes of Eradicating Weeds of the 

Thistle Family 113 

Chapter VII. 
Methods of Eradicating Weeds of the Mus- 
tard Family ^ 149 

Chapter VIII. 
Eradication of the Weedy Grasses 175 

Chapter IX. 
Specific Modes of Eradicating Miscellaneous 

Troublesome Weeds 196 



CHAPTER I. 



THE PREVALENCE OF WEEDS. 

''Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in 
sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of 
thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it 
bring forth to thee ; and thou shalt eat the 
herb of the field." So reads the doom that 
was hurled down the centuries from the 
gates of Eden, when man was ejected from 
a paradise lost, to earn his bread by the 
sweat of his brow. From that day to the 
present weeds have followed in the foot 
prints of man. He no sooner pitches his 
tent or builds his more permanent home 
than they entrench themselves around it. 
He no sooner commences to till the soil 
than they commence to dispute its posses- 
sion with the plants that he sows, and thus 
they harass and perplex him, and compli- 
cate all his best devised methods for sub- 
duing the earth. 

It is true at the same time that in lands 
that have never been tilled, we find some 



8 Weeds. 

weeds, but they are native to the soil, and 
the number of the species is not only lim- 
ited, but those which do exist seem unable 
to multiply to any great extent in the natu- 
ral surroundings amid which they grow. 
On the other hand, in lands that have long 
been cultivated, we frequently find that for- 
eign varieties of weeds are far more numer- 
ous and aggressive than the native spe- 
cies. Regions that have been settled with 
inhabitants drawn from different countries 
are peculiarly liable to be infested with the 
weeds of the various countries from which 
these inhabitants have come. The seeds of 
the weeds are imported along with the grain 
that is brought for sowing, and are intro- 
duced in various other w^ays. Some of the 
varieties thus imported do not take kindly 
to the new conditions, but other sorts, like 
the people who have brought them, often- 
times find their new surroundings pre-emi- 
nently favorable to a greatly increased 
development. 

The "prevalence of weeds" depends 
(i) on the number of weed species found 
in any locality; and (2) on the extent to 
which these various species are allowed to 
multiply. 



Prevalence of Weeds. 9 

J. The number of weed species. The 
number of the various species of weeds 
which infest the different portions of the 
United States and of the provinces of Can- 
ada has not yet been accurately determined. 
The story of their distribution has not yet 
been fully told, and their number is con- 
stantly increasing. It would serve no good 
purpose to enumerate the various species, 
or even to try to give an approximation of 
their number. Weeds are probably quite 
as numerous and varied now in America as 
in Europe, where it is well known that they 
have been constantly increasing in number 
and variety with every passing century. In 
addition to the noxious weeds of America 
that are native to the continent, the greater 
portion of those that have long harassed 
the inhabitants of Europe are now giving 
trouble to the inhabitants of America. 

Our most troublesome and aggressive 
weeds are foreigners. The Canada thistle, 
which seems so completely at home in the 
central provinces of the Dominion and the 
northern portion of the United States, was 
imported from Europe. The same is true 
of some varieties of the sow thistle. The 
wild oat, the ox-eve daisv, the burdock, the 



10 Weeds. 

wild mustard, the Russian thistle, the 
prickly lettuce, the corn cockle and indeed 
nearly all the various forms of weed life 
that are greatly troublesome to us, come 
from a foreign source. Foreign weeds in 
this country are even more numerous and 
characteristic than the people who brought 
them hither, and so they are likely to 
remain, for weeds, unlike nationalities, do 
not fuse and blend so as to lose their sev- 
eral individualities. For some of them, as 
the Canada thistle, the new conditions have 
been found so favorable that they flourish 
to a greater extent than even in the lands 
whence they came. 

Although the presence of weed life in any 
form is not desirable, some varieties, as for 
instance the dandelion, are not greatly 
harm;ful, while others, as the sow thistle, 
quack grass and the Canada thistle, if given 
a chance, will soon render the growing of 
certain crops quite unprofitable. A large 
majority of the weeds found in this country 
may be kept in check by what may be 
termed good cultivation, that is to say, by 
such cultivation as is necessary to grow 
good crops ; but other varieties require spe- 
cific modes of treatment if, when the 



Prevalence of Weeds. ii 

attempt is made to exterminate them, it is 
to prove successful. Happily the number 
of varieties of weeds which are really seri- 
ously harmful to crops and difficult to erad- 
icate is not very large. In the present state 
of our knowledge of the subject, it would 
not be safe to name a definite number which 
would cover the entire list, nor would it be 
judicious to do so, as new varieties are com- 
ing forward all the time. Notwithstand- 
ing, it would probably be not incorrect to 
say that at the present time the varieties of 
really noxious weeds in the United States 
and Canada do not number more than thirty 
or forty, and it is greatly encouraging to 
reflect that we seldom find more than half 
a dozen kinds entrenched in any one local- 
ity. 

2. The extent to which weeds have been 
allozved to multiply. The extent to which 
certain varieties of noxious weeds have 
been allowed to multiply is simply alarm- 
ing. Some of them are, in a sense, taking 
possession of the land. Notably is this true 
of "wild mustard, the Canada thistle, and 
wild oats in the Red River Valley and simi- 
lar grain-growing sections, of quack grass 
in some localities, and of wild barley and 



12 Weeds. 

the Russian thistle in others. In some sec- 
tions the seeds of wild mustard are so 
numerous in the soil that, though no more 
were allowed to ripen during the present 
generation, there would probably still be a 
few left to grow plants for the next genera- 
tion to destroy. Other varieties than those 
named are increasing with alarming rapid- 
ity. Unless some effective measures are 
taken to destroy them, they will increase 
more and more, to the great injury of our 
agriculture. It is surely a stigma on the 
agriculture of any country and a withering 
criticism on the defectiveness of the modes 
of cultivation that are practiced in it, when 
weeds increase rather than decrease. In 
the hope of doing something to stay the 
progress of the great tide of weed invasion 
and weed aggression, this book has been 
written. The writer cherishes the hope 
that every interested reader will exert him- 
self to the utmost to stay the progress of 
weed extension by doing his best to utterly 
annihilate weeds in all their seriously nox- 
ious forms. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE EVILS WHICH ARISE FROM THE PRESENCE 
OF WEEDS. 



The evils which arise from the presence 
of weeds are very many and very great ; so 
many and so great that it would seem incon- 
ceivable that any one should be found will- 
ing to offer an excuse for weeds on the 
ground of their utility. Nevertheless, we 
sometimes find persons enlarging on their 
value for fertilizing purposes, and on their 
utility in arresting the escape of nitrates 
from the soil through leaching. It is true 
that weeds may sometimes be turned to 
good account in enriching the land, if they 
are plowed under as a green crop before 
their seeds mature, but more commonly it 
will be found far better to sow a crop prop- 
erly suited to the purpose, and one that will 
at the same time afford pasture if necessary. 
A green crop thus sown will also hinder the 



14 Weeds. 

escape of nitrates more effectively than a 
crop of weeds, owing to its greater uni- 
formity. Whenever weeds grow spontane- 
ously in sufficient numbers to be of much 
service in either of the ways named above, 
they are sure to give trouble to whatever 
useful crop is grown upon the same land, 
much more than will offset any advan- 
tage to be gained from them. 

In good farming weeds should not be 
tolerated at all, because (i) they rob the 
useful, cultivated plants of their due share 
of plant food and moisture; (2) they also 
injure them by crowding and shading; 

(3) they harbor insects and plant diseases; 

(4) they add greatly to the labor of clean- 
ing grain for market and for seed ; (5) they 
frequently interfere with a regular rotation ; 
and (6) they are usually not of much value 
as food. To all these things may be added 
the statement that the longer they are left 
to grow unchecked, the greater is the work 
required to completely subdue them. 

/. Weeds rob useful plants of their due 
share of plant food and moisture. Weeds 
feed upon precisely the same kinds of food 
as the useful plants among which thev 
grow, and they draw heavily upon the avail- 



Injuries from Weeds. 15 

able soil moisture. They are often more 
capable of gathering food and moisture 
from the soil than the useful crop, as their 
root systems are usually more vigorous and 
penetrate to a greater depth. When found 
growing in a crop, therefore, they deprive 
either that crop or the crops that come after 
that one, of precisely that amount of water 
and plant food which they consume during 
their period of growth. The quantity of 
plant food which weeds take from the crops 
and the soil will be in proportion to the 
numbers in which they are found. It should 
not be forgotten that plant food externally 
applied, often at much cost, as in the case 
of commercial fertilizers will be utilized by 
weeds quite as readily as the plant food nat- 
urally available in the soil itself. 

2. Weeds injure useful plants by crozvd- 
ing and shading them. When useful plants 
and weeds commence to grow at the same 
time, the weeds will nearly always leave 
the useful plants behind in the race. This 
is owing to the superior power of gathering 
plant food which nearly all varieties of 
weeds possess. When present in a crop, 
they usually grow more vigorously than the 
crop itself, and as the latter is intended to 



1 6 Weeds. 

grow so thickly that it will require all the 
room that can be given it to enable it to 
perfect its growth, it follows that the injury 
through crowding from weeds will be in 
proportion to the number and vigor of the 
weeds. Weeds also grow more quickly 
than useful plants, hence by their shade 
they hinder that perfect development of the 
useful plants which abundant sunlight is 
necessary to secure. 

5. Weeds harbor injurious insects and 
plant diseases. Weedy fence rows, waste 
places, and stubble furnish winter lodgment 
to the chinch bug and various other injuri- 
ous insects. Certain weeds, by their dense 
growth, form an excellent harbor for plant 
lice. The dense shade formed by a rank 
growth of weeds furnishes conditions favor- 
able to the development of rust, mildew, 
and other plant diseases. Some of the dis- 
eases of the cabbage, cauliflower, and turnip 
also occur on the wild mustard and similar 
plants, and are spread by them. 

4. Weeds add much to the labor of clean- 
ing grain for market and for seed. Were 
it not for the presence of weed seeds, it 
would not be necessary to spend much time 
in cleaning grain intended for sale. It is 



Injuries from Weeds. 17 

evident that grain entirely free from the 
seeds of weeds always commands, even in 
the ordinar}^ market, a higher price than 
grain that is unclean. When grain con- 
taining weed seeds is put on sale for sow- 
ing, the depreciation in value is much 
greater relatively. The seedsman cannot 
afford to pay good prices for seed grain of 
any kind if he must spend much time and 
labor upon it in removing the seeds of nox- 
ious weeds. Oftentimes it is found impos- 
sible to completely separate weed seeds from 
the grain in which they are found by any 
other process than that of hand-picking. 
With the farmer, in preparing a crop of 
any kind for market, this would be simply 
impossible. All kinds of grain should be 
considered as unfit for seed, however, so 
long as any seeds of noxious weeds are 
found in it. 

The difficulty in removing the seeds of 
weeds from those of grasses and clovers is 
much greater than in removing them from 
the small grains, owing to the greater rela- 
tive uniformity in the size of the weed seeds 
and the seeds of the grasses. The labor of 
the cleaning process, therefore, is also rel- 
atively greater, and in very many instances 



i8 Weeds. 

the cleaning cannot be accomplished by any 
process. The only possible way of prevent- 
ing the presence of the seeds of certain nox- 
ious weeds in many kinds of seed grains, 
clovers, and grasses, is to prevent them 
from ripening in the crops which produce 
thes'£ seeds. 

5. Weeds frequently interfere zvith a reg- 
ular rotation. Ordinarily, farming cannot 
be carried on successfully without a regu- 
lar rotation. This fact is admitted on every 
hand by the most succ^^sful agriculturists. 
The nature of the rotation vx^ill depend upon 
such considerations as relate to the capabil- 
ities and requirements of the soil, the mar- 
kets, and the facilities for obtaining supplies 
of plant food. The fertility of the soil can 
always be sustained in more even balance 
when a suitable rotation is practiced. When 
weeds become numerous in any of the crops 
of a rotation, they greatly hinder the prof- 
itable growth of these crops. In some 
instances, this hindrance may be so great 
as to render the growth of the crops of the 
regular rotation quite unprofitable until 
prompt measures have been taken to remove 
the weeds. The adoption of these meas- 



In Junes from Weeds. 19 

ures may necessitate the growing of such 
crops for a time as may not be desired. 

6. Weeds are usually not of much value 
for food. If weeds were of much value as 
food either for man or beast, there would 
not be the same necessity for waging 
against them a war of extermination, but 
usually they are of no value. When live 
stock feed upon them, it is generally 
because of short supplies of their proper 
food, unless it be when the weeds are very 
young. Nearly all forms of weed life are 
possessed of acrid or bitter juices which 
render them distasteful to live stock, and 
many of them become so woody at a com- 
paratively early stage of their growth that 
they are in consequence left undisturbed. 
Quack grass, it is true, forms an exception, 
but quack grass is not more valuable than 
many other kinds of grass, and when we 
consider the difficulty found in eradicating 
It, we cannot regard it in any other ligh't 
than that of a most troublesome weed. The 
value of weeds for food is so trifling, com- 
pared with the mischief which arises from 
their prevalence, that we ought never to 
sow them or tolerate their presence for such 
a use. 



20 Weeds. 

Finally, the longer zveeds are left to grow 
unchecked, the greater is the labor required 
to completely subdue them. Were it not 
for the presence of weeds, the art of tilHng 
the soil would be very much^ simphfied. 
They are more or less responsible for the 
introduction of the bare fallow, which is 
not only costly in respect of time, but also 
involves much labor. Once get the mas- 
tery of the more noxious forms of weed 
life, and the bare fallow is no longer an 
absolute necessity on any farm, except pos- 
sibly for the conservation of moisture in 
the semi-arid districts. Weeds also add 
greatly to the cost of growing crops which 
require cultivation, such as corn and roots, 
as those engaged in raising these crops 
know very well. It would be impossible 
even to approximate to the cost of labor 
expended annually in the destruction of 
weeds, but it is a very large sum, and one 
that in many portions of this continent is 
continually increasing, since the cost of sub- 
duing weeds must always increase as the 
weeds themselves increase in number. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE POSSIBILITY OF DESTROYING WEEDS. 

The prevalence of noxious weeds in the 
United States and Canada is simply alarm- 
ing. They abound on every hand. In 
many sections, in one form or another, they 
flourish in every field and luxuriate in every 
crop. Gardens, which above all places on 
the farm should be clean, are literally over- 
run with them. They occupy the sides of 
nearly every road throughout the whole 
continent. To so great an extent do they 
prevail everywhere that they form one great 
dark blot upon the boasted progress of the 
twentieth century, and are a reproach upon 
its civilization. 

The extent to which weeds prevail in 
nearly all parts of this continent would 
lead one to suppose that the farmers had 
abandoned all efforts to destroy them, and 
were content to gather from their fields, 



22 Weeds. 

in the form of crops, merely what the weeds 
allowed to grow there. This apathy seems 
to arise, in part at least, from a lack of 
belief in the possibility of destroying weeds 
without incurring so much labor and 
expense as to make the work unprofitable. 
As the matter presents itself to the writer, 
there is not a shadow of a hope that the 
weeds of this continent will ever be 
destroyed by the farmers, so long as their 
complete eradication is looked upon as 
impossible, or so long as the belief is har- 
bored that the outlay of labor and expense 
in completely eradicating them will not be 
repaid by the greater gains that will be 
obtained when once their destruction is 
effected. 

Four propositions are now submitted 
which bear upon the subject of the com- 
plete eradication of weeds. So confident 
is the writer of the soundness of these prop- 
ositions that he makes them as strongly 
affirmative as possible. They are as follows : 

(i) The noxious forms of weed life can 
be completely eradicated on every farm 
throughout the whole continent if the farm- 
ers of these farms resolve that it shall be 
done. 



Possibility of Destroying Weeds. 23 

(2) Complete eradication can be effected 
without heavy outlay, if the work be done 
in the proper way. 

(3) When weeds are once under control, 
it will be easily possible, with but little out- 
lay, to keep them so. 

(4) The profits of farming will be, rela- 
tively, much larger where farms are kept 
entirely free from noxious weeds. 

The writer is by no means unconscious of 
the fact that these propositions will be 
received doubtfully by some who read them, 
but he finds comfort in the reflection that 
they will be distasteful to no one whose 
heart is really set upon the complete eradi- 
cation of the noxious weeds that may exist 
on his own farm,. 

I. The noxious forms of weed life can be 
completely eradicated on every farm. By 
the assertion that the more troublesome 
forms of weed life can be completely erad- 
icated, it is meant that they can be so effec- 
tually exterminated that they will practi- 
cally cease to interfere with any rotation 
that may be desired. It even implies that 
they can be completely banished from every 
farm where the attempt is made, except as 
their seeds are brought back again by natu- 



^4 Weeds. 

ral or other agencies, and that with the 
necessary watchfulness, the plants which 
grow from these can in turn be destroyed 
with but little difficulty. Many persons 
seem to hold the view that while weeds may 
be held in check and kept from seriously 
hindering the growth of crops, they cannot 
be wholly destroyed. They claim that while 
weeds may be thus far conquered, never- 
theless they will come again, and therefore 
that the hope of eradicating them com- 
pletely is not to be cherished. Those who 
hold this view shape their practice accord- 
ingly. They adopt some method of clean- 
ing a field that proves fairly successful, and 
then during the years that immediately fol- 
low give the same field no further special 
attention. The consequence is that this 
field soon again requires to be put through 
some special cleaning process, owing to 
the increase of the weeds which were 
but partially eradicated by the pre- 
vious one. If this practice were a good 
one, it would involve the correctness of the 
untenable theory, that in correcting error 
and uprooting evil, it is better to do it par- 
tially rather than wholly. So long as the 
belief is cherished by those who are most 
interested, that the complete eradication of 



Possibility of Destroying Weeds. 25 

noxious weeds is impossible, so long will 
weeds continue to prevail. To so great an 
extent is this belief indulged in that it 
would probably be found a greater task to 
correct it in the minds of many farmers 
than to uproot the weeds themselves from 
their fields. 

To banish weeds completely from any 
farm will not only require the wise and dil- 
igent use of measures of a certain charac- 
ter, which will be described in succeeding 
chapters, but when once they are gone, it 
will also require the most persistent watch- 
fulness to keep them away. With public 
sentiment on this subject as it is at present, 
it will be found impossible to get, those who 
are most directly interested to act in con- 
cert in destroying weeds, hence the work of 
even materially reducing their numbers will 
necessarily be slow. The work of banish- 
ing weeds from any country would not of 
necessity extend over many years if all the 
farmers of the country would but act 
together. The spectacle would then be wit- 
nessed for the first time of an inhabited 
country without noxious weeds to harass 
and annoy the tiller of the soil. Because 
farmers cannot all be persuaded to put forth 



26 Weeds. 

the effort to banish weeds from their prem- 
ises, no one engaged in agriculture should 
refrain from doing all that he possibly can 
to bring about this result. Though our 
neighbors should not now believe in the 
possibility of being able to banish noxious 
weeds from their farms, if our own farms 
are made clean and kept clean, the evidence 
thus presented will in time have its due 
measure of influence. 

2. The complete eradication of noxious 
zveeds can be effected zuithout heavy outlay 
if the work be done in a proper way. To 
argue the truth of this proposition in an 
abstract, theoretical fashion w^ould be to 
spend time to but little purpose. It w^ould 
not succeed in winning many converts to 
the truth. Those who cherish the belief in 
reference to weeds that "the thing that 
hath been is that which shall be" cannot be 
reached by any such line of reasoning. The 
evidence of actual accomplishment is the 
only testimony which they will not be 
inclined to reject. Evidence of this kind 
is not very plentiful, as our farmer readers 
must know very well. Therefore, because 
of the lack of the necessary data from other 
sources bearing upon the cost of cleaning 



Possibility of Destroying Weeds. 27 

farms from weeds, the writer must fall 
back upon his own experience, and use as 
evidence the work that was accomplished at 
the Ontario Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion at Guelph from the time it came under 
his supervision in the autumn of 1888. 

At that time the farm was not in a clean 
condition. The Canada thistle prevailed to 
a greater or less extent over the whole of 
it. In some of the fields the spring grain 
crops were so infested with this pest that 
they had to be cut in the green stage to pre- 
vent the maturing of thistles in countless 
numbers. In several of the fields, ox-eye 
daisies spangled meadows and pastures 
with a glory all their own. The yellow 
blossoms of the wild mustard lent variety to 
the foliage of every field, and in some fields 
their beauty was painfully profuse. Bur- 
docks revelled among the stones that were 
strewn along the numerous fence borders. 
Wheat-thief and false flax were plentifully 
sprinkled in some localities, while in others 
the sow thistle had obtained a firm and men- 
acing footing. Quack grass had monopo- 
lized more than one field. Ragweed was 
plentifully strewn over one or two fields. 
Bindweed had taken possession of small 



28 Weeds. 

areas here and there, and blueweed had 
fixed its firm grip on some of the pastures. 
Here, then, was a capital opportunity for 
experiment in the eradication of noxious 
weeds. 

It would not be correct to say that any 
one of these varieties of weed life was com- 
pletely eradicated in the five years from 
that time till this little book was first 
written. A few stragglers still survived 
from year to year, but these, in nearly all 
instances, came from the seeds which were 
in the soil ready to spring into vigor- 
ous existence when favorable conditions 
occurred for them. It may be said in all 
fairness, however, that none of these vari- 
ous forms of weed life were present in suf- 
ficient numbers to cause serious annoyance 
to cultivation or real injury to the crops. 

To estimate with absolute precision the 
cost of bringing this Station Farm into the 
condition of cleanliness indicated would 
probably be an impossible task, owing to 
the many complications that arise in fixing 
the proportion of the outlay that should be 
charged to the growing of the crops and 
to the eradication of the weeds respectively. 
The utmost that can be hoped for is an 



Possibility of Destroying Weeds. 2g 

approximation to the real cost. Such an 
approximate estimate was made and pub- 
lished in the Annual Report of the Ontario 
Agricultural College and Experimental 
Farm for 1891, pp. 51 and 52. No better 
course, probably, can be adopted here than 
to make a quotation from the Farm Depart- 
ment portion of this report, prepared by the 
writer. The subject in hand is therein dis- 
cussed in the following language: 

"The question of the cost of cleaning this 
farm will doubtless be raised by the enquir- 
ing mind, and it is well that it should be. 
In reference to this, I desire to say that I 
am satisfied that the only outlay for which 
there was no direct return was that paid 
for hand spudding. The hoed crops would 
certainly all pay for the cost of producing 
them. On much of the land, two crops 
were grown each year during the cleaning 
process. On the land gang-plowed after 
harvest, compensation for the outlay was 
frequently obtained in the catch crops 
grown. I regret that no account was kept 
of the exact amount expended for hand 
spudding in 1889. In 1890 the time spent 
in spudding was 498^ hours by one per- 
son, which, at $1.25 per day of ten hours, 



30 Weeds. 

would amount to $62.3 ij^. In 1891 the 
time thus spent upon the farm amounted 
to 489 hours, which would cost $61.12^/2. 
For the two years, then, the outlay for 
spudding was $123.44. This does not 
include spudding on the road. On the 
supposition that as much was expended in 
spudding in the year 1889 as in the two fol- 
lowing years, and this estimate is certainly 
a liberal one, the whole outlay for spudding 
in the three years would not be more than 
$250.00. Now, suppose the 400 acres, or 
thereabouts, of arable and pasture land on 
this farm had been cleaned by the process 
of the bare fallow during these three years, 
that is to say, one-third of it each year, the 
cost of hired labor of man and team, with 
rental of land added, in the absence of crop, 
would have been from $3,200 to $4,000. 
This calculation is based on the assumption 
that the cost of the bare fallow, when all 
the labor is hired and the rental of the land 
included, would be fully $8.00 to $10.00 per 
acre." 

When the work of the bare fallow is 
done by the farmer, it will not, of course, 
be nearly so costly to the person doing it as 
when the labor of man and team is hired ; 



Possibility of Destroying Weeds, 31 

but in whatever way it may be done, it will 
cost several times more per acre than the 
sum actually paid per acre for spudding 
during the three years in which the Onta- 
rio Agricultural Experiment Station at 
Guelph was being freed from weeds. 

J. When noxious zveeds are once eradi- 
cated, it will he easily possible, with but 
little outlay, to keep them in check. This 
proposition is so reasonable that it should 
scarcely require any argument to demon- 
strate its correctness. Nevertheless, it is 
one which runs strangely counter to popu- 
lar opinion. We find many ready to say 
that the task is a hopeless one, that weeds 
will continue to come through all time, and 
that to keep them completely under control 
will be found a process costly out of all 
proportion to the benefits accruing. That 
noxious weeds, even when once eradicated, 
will come again is certainly true, and that 
they will keep coming is equally true, but 
that it will cost more to keep them wholly 
banished than only partially banished is 
altogether illogical. 

Such reasoning would involve the unten- 
able assumption that when weeds are plen- 
tiful they are relatively easier to fight than 



32 . Weeds. 

when they are few, and that while it would 
be a wise and commendable course to 
reduce the number of weeds on a farm, 
there is a limit beyond which further reduc- 
tion ought not to go. 

If a farm that is very dirty can be made 
partially clean with advantage to the 
farmer, it seems reasonable to think that 
to go a step farther and to render it alto- 
gether clean would be a still greater advan- 
tage, and that if a farm can be partially 
cleaned and yield profit to the owner, this 
profit will not only be correspondingly 
greater if the farm be perfectly cleaned, 
but that the labor and cost of maintaining 
cleanliness will continually decrease with 
the increasing perfection of the cleanliness. 

It may be well to state here that the term 
''clean," as applied to freedom from the 
presence of noxious weeds on farms, is 
necessarily used" in this work in a relative 
sense. So long as weed seeds are carried 
from place to place by means of such agen- 
cies as birds, waters, and winds, we shall 
never be able to say that a farm is abso- 
lutely clean. Though one year it were to 
be made perfectly free from noxious weeds, 
the following year a number of weeds 



Possibility of Destroying Weeds. 33 

would probably grow from seeds brought 
by some one or other of the various 'agen- 
cies concerned in weed distribution. When, 
therefore, a farm is spoken of as clean in 
this work, it is meant ( i ) that it is so free 
from noxious weeds that they do practi- 
cally no injury to the crops that may be 
grown upon it; and (2) that such weeds as 
are found upon it are so few in number 
that one can remove by hand or with the 
spud, in one day of ten working hours, all 
of them found growing in any ten acres of 
the farm. Such a definition may seem arbi- 
trary, but since absolute freedom from nox- 
ious weeds is not, at any rate for the pres- 
ent, to be looked for, some definition seemed 
necessary to prevent misconception. A def- 
inition was chosen, therefore, within rea- 
sonable reach of attainment, and such as 
would serve all practical purposes. The 
mode of securing and maintaining the 
above-defined degree of cleanliness will be 
described in subsequent chapters. 

To show that the work of maintaining 
cleanliness is not necessarily expensive, it 
will be sufficient to quote again from the 
Report of the Ontario Agricultural College 



34 Weeds. 

and Experimental Farm for 1891. On 
page 52, the following statements are made : 
"It may not be amiss here to venture two 
or three remarks that are general in their 
nature in reference to cleaning farms. I 
desire to say, fi^rst, that it is my firm con- 
viction that the farmers of this province 
may have clean farms if they so desire it; 
second, that farms may be cleaned without 
great outlay, and ordinarily without resort- 
ing to the bare fallow ; and, third, that when 
farms are thus cleaned the work of keeping 
them clean will not be difficult, providing 
due vigilance is exercised. When a field 
is cleaned, it can easily be kept clean by the 
use of the spud and autumn cultivation, in 
addition to the cultivation necessary to the 
production of the crops grown. When 
thus cleaned, the hand spudding, essential 
in keeping fields clean of weeds, should not 
be more than $25.00 per year for 100 acres. 
We expect to keep this farm clean hence- 
forth at an outlay of not more than $75.00 
per annum, over and above the ordinary 
outlay required in good cultivation. This 
estimate includes private roads, fence bor- 
ders, unbroken pastures, and by-places." 



Possibility of Destroying Weeds. 35 

Some of the statements in the quotation 
just given may appear extravagant, even 
to practical men. The idea of bringing 
farms into a clean condition and then keep- 
ing them so seems to be entertained by so 
small a number that those who advocate 
such views will be looked upon by many as 
enthusiasts. The writer feels free to say, 
however, that this opinion is not the view 
of a mere enthusiast, and no man should 
regard it as such until he has first honestly 
made the attempt to clean his own farm on 
the lines laid down in this book, and found 
that he cannot profitably do so. This opin- 
ion, it may be added, is sustained by the 
experience of 1892 in the management of 
the Ontario Agricultural Experiment- Sta- 
tion at Guelph. An accurate account was 
kept of the time spent in hand spudding 
that year. It amounted to 512 hours, 
which, at $1.25 per day of ten hours, cost 
but $64.00, a sum considerably less than 
$25.00 per 100 acres. And this cost includes 
the entire work done in the way indicated 
on "private roads, fence borders, unbroken 
pastures, and by-places," in addition to that 
expended on the cultivable portions. 



36 Weeds. 

4. The profits of farming will he rela- 
tively much larger zvhere farms are kept 
entirely free from noxious weeds. The 
correctness of the proposition here made 
will surely be apparent to the reflective 
mind, but if proof is wanted, it is easily 
found. 

Since weeds feed upon identically the 
same food as useful plants, it follows that 
where the former take up a portion of the 
plant food there will be just that much less 
for the crops in which the weeds grow. 
Where weeds are more numerous in a crop 
than the plants of the crop, much more of 
plant food is used by the weeds than by the 
crop, for weeds are more ravenous feeders 
than useful plants. Moreover, through the 
crowding and shading by weeds of the crop 
plants, crops are very much injured, as was 
stated in a previous chapter. Here, too, 
the injury will be in proportion to the num- 
ber and strength of the weeds, and crop- 
yields will be correspondingly diminished. 
The view has been advocated that some- 
times noxious weeds should not be cut down 
in pastures, for the reason that they encour- 
age the growth of grasses, inasmuch as 
thev furnish shade to them. This would 



Possibility of Destroying Weeds. 37 

be equivalent to saying that grasses robbed 
of nutriment by overshadowing v^eeds, and 
grown in the absence of sunhght, would be 
more abundant and nutritious than grasses 
occupying the ground alone. Such argu- 
ment should be consigned to a deeper shade 
than the rankest weeds can possibly furnish. 
Again, weeds growing in crops increase 
the labor of handling the crops, and to no 
useful purpose. Here, too, the increase in 
labor will be in proportion to the extent to 
. which the weeds are present, and with all 
increase in labor that is not followed by a 
corresponding return, there must be a 
decrease in the profits. Weeds increase the 
labor of harvesting the crops amid which 
they grow, whether these are cereal or cul- 
tivated crops. Grain crops are much more 
difficult to reap where weeds abound, since 
the latter are more branching in their hab- 
its of growth than cereal plants, are more 
woody in fibre, and are of greater height 
proportionately — the latter characteristic 
resulting from a tendency to a more pro- 
longed state of greenness in some portions 
of the plants. Cultivated crops are much 
more difficult to harvest where weeds 
abound, since weeds frequently hinder free- 



38 Weeds. 

dom of locomotion on the part of the work- 
men, impede the working of the implements 
used, and increase the difficulty of hand- 
ling the crop. Moreover, weeds materially 
increase the difficulty of curing both cereal 
and grass crops by prolonging the curing 
period, and in proportion as this period is 
prolonged, the liability to loss from adverse 
weather is increased. 

When weeds become so numerous as to 
disturb the regular rotation, they necessa- 
rily interfere with the profits that would 
otherwise accrue. A disturbed rotation 
generally leads to the growing of some crop 
that is less desirable than that usually 
grown. This, in turn, may lead to dis- 
turbed market relations, a greater necessity 
for the purchase of artificial fertilizers, and 
even of certain farm foods that may be 
wanted, and to various other evils, some of 
which have been mentioned in Chapter II. 

The labor required in cleaning the ground 
from weeds increases with the increase of 
the weeds, and the farm profits are there- 
fore to that extent reduced. More partic- 
ularly is this the case in growing cultivated 
crops. With the multiplication of weeds 
hand labor especially is increased, because 



Possibility of Destroying Weeds. 39 

more labor is required to remove weeds 
from the line of the rows, and the hand 
labor thus employed is always relatively 
more expensive than horse labor. Because 
of this, the untenable conclusion has been 
reached by some that in America it will 
not pay to grow crops which require hand 
labor to keep them clean. The labor of 
cleaning by other modes, such as the bare 
fallow, is also increased as weeds multiply, 
and this increase of labor not only results 
from the greater frequency with which the 
bare fallow would have to be resorted to by 
those who practice it, but also from the 
thoroughness with which the bare fallow 
would have to be managed to make it effec- 
tive when weeds are plentiful, to say noth- 
ing of the loss that is occasioned by the 
greater frequency of the seasons when 
crops can not be grown because of the land 
lying idle in bare fallow. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE AGENCIES CONCERNED IN THE DISTRI- 
BUTION AND PROPAGATION OF NOXIOUS 
WEEDS. 



The means or agencies concerned in the 
distribution and propagation of noxious 
weeds are chiefly the following : seed grain, 
grass seed, clover seed, etc. ; farm live 
stock ; purchased feed stufifs ; farmyard 
manures; packing-cases, crates, etc., that 
have been used for the carriage of goods; 
road and farm vehicles, etc. ; implements of 
tillage ; thrashing machines ; railways ; birds ; 
wild animals ; waters ; winds ; and the inher- 
ent powers of the weeds themselves. Some 
of these means or agencies are entirely 
under the farmer's control, as the last men- 
tioned ; some of them are but partially under 
his control — that is, as far as weed distri- 
bution is concerned — as the vehicles that 
pass along his roads or are used upon his 



Distribution and Propagation. 41 

farm ; and some are entirely beyond his 
control, as waters and winds. These vari- 
ous means or agencies will now be consid- 
ered in the order in which they have been 
mentioned. 

J. Seed grain, grass seed,' clover seed, 
etc. By no other agency, perhaps, are 
weeds so widely and so generally distributed 
as by the grain seed, grass seed, and clover 
seed used by the farmer, more especially 
the two latter. Carrying facilities are now 
so complete that seed intended for sowing 
can be brought from great distances to be 
sold in any market where there is a demand 
for it. This is particularly true of the less 
bulky and lighter sorts of seeds. Owing 
to the ready means which are thus afforded 
for obtaining supplies of these seeds, there 
is a tendency in those districts where fair 
yields are not commonly obtained to pur- 
chase them from distant parts rather than 
to raise them at home. The demand thus 
sustained encourages the growth of the 
various sorts of seeds in those centers that 
are found most suitable for them. Unfor- 
tunately, those centers which are generally 
possessed of unusual fertility oftentimes 
produce the seeds of hurtful weeds quite 



42 Weeds. 

as freely as those of the useful clovers, 
grasses, and grains; and owing, in very 
many instances, to their similarity in size 
to the useful seeds in which they are found 
(especially in grass or clover seeds), it is 
almost impossible, by any process of clean- 
ing that may be adopted, to separate the 
seeds of weeds from the useful seeds which 
are intended for sowing. The distribution, 
therefore, of these weed seeds is as wide as 
that of the useful seeds in which they are 
found, and, it may be added, is as continu- 
ous. The seeds of millets are also a fruit- 
ful agency for the dissemination of weed 
seeds, though not perhaps to the same 
extent as are seeds that are smaller. 

Renewing the stock of small graiias by 
the purchase of new seed, or by the 
exchange for seed grown by others, is a 
common practice among farmers, and it has 
many things to commend it; but along with 
the new seed there too frequently comes an 
influx of the seeds of the most troublesome 
weeds. Although this is a less fruitful 
source of weed-seed dissemination than that 
which has just been spoken of, it furnishes 
the explanation of the arrival upon our 
farms of many forms of weeds, the pres- 



Distribution and Propagation. 43 

ence of which we could not otherwise 
account for. 

Moreover, farmers sometimes test by 
local trial the suitability of the various sorts 
of farm seeds that are to be obtained in 
foreign countries. This work has its dan- 
gers as well as its benefits. In the old 
world, as in the new, it is almost impos- 
sible to buy seed in the open market entirely 
free from the seeds of foul weeds. When 
foreign seeds are distributed through the 
medium of our agricultural experiment sta- 
tions, a considerable degree of assurance is 
furnished the farmer that he will get pure 
seed ; but it would probably be claiming too 
much for those stations to say that, even 
when the farmer takes this precaution, there 
would be no danger. As long as farm 
seeds are bought in the open market, there 
will be some danger that the seeds of nox- 
ious weeds will be brought to our farms by 
means of them. 

2. Farm live stock. Very frequently weed 
seeds are introduced upon a farm by being 
carried in the hair or wool of live stock 
brought from other localities. Sometimes 
the weed seeds cluster about the hair of the 
mane and tail. When the animals are given 



44 Weeds. 

the freedom of a pasture, or, as is some- 
times the case, the freedom of the farm, 
these seeds lose their hold, and, dropping 
to the ground, begin at once to grow and 
multiply. If a flock of sheep were bought 
in a locality where weeds abounded, and 
were brought to a clean farm, and there 
hurdled in a corner of a field while they 
were being tagged, the number and vari- 
ety o£the weeds that would be found grow- 
ing in that spot the next season would be 
surprising. The writer can testify to the 
correctness of this statement from personal 
experience and observation. 

Again, live stock distribute the seeds of 
various sorts of weeds by means of their 
droppings. This mode of weed distribu- 
tion, though somewhat local, is very com- 
mon, and should be borne in mind when 
removing cattle from fields infested with 
noxious weeds to other portions of the 
farm which, as yet, may not be infested 
with them. 

J. Purchased feed stuffs. Weeds are 
very frequently introduced into new locali- 
ties by being carried in the feed stuffs that 
are brought from distant places to sup- 
plement the food that is grown upon the 



i 



Distribution and Propagation. 45 

farm when local supplies run short. More 
especially is this likely to be the case in those 
localities where dairying or the fattening of 
live stock is carried on extensively. Weed 
seeds have long been thus distributed in 
both grains and fodders; but only locally, 
until recently, in the latter, owing to the 
difficulty which has existed of transporting 
fodder long distances. Now that fodders 
are baled for ease of transport, v\^eed seeds 
are carried long distances in them as v\^ell 
as in grains. Indeed, fodders are nov^ a 
more dangerous means of weed distribu- 
tion even than grains, since fodders are 
usually fed without being subjected to 
steaming, while grains may be steamed or 
ground before they are fed, for the pur- 
pose of destroying the vitality of such weed 
seeds as may be found in them. Persons 
who purchase mill screenings which have 
not first been ground or crushed, and who 
feed them without steaming or grinding 
are certain to bring noxious weed seeds to 
their farms in countless numbers. 

4. Farmyard manures. Weeds are dis- 
tributed in countless numbers by the agency 
of barnyard manures, a fact which farmers 
generally know very well. More especially 



46 Weeds. 

are they distributed by means of the man- 
ures which are purchased in towns and 
cities, owing to the various sources from 
which the feed stuffs which are used in 
these places often come. The purchaser 
of feed stuffs in towns and cities has not 
the same interest in looking into the purity 
of what he buys as the farmer; hence it 
would probably be exceptional to find the 
manure obtained from him entirely free 
from the seeds of foul weeds. Although 
manure is one of the most common agen- 
cies by which weeds are distributed, the 
weeds that are distributed by means of 
manure are likely to be local in character, 
rather than distant and foreign. 

5. Packing-eases, crates, etc., that have 
been used for the carriage of goods. Nox- 
ious weed seeds are frequently introduced 
into new localities by means of the straw or 
chaiT in which goods have been packed for 
shipment. The packing-cases which have 
held the goods during transport are often 
purchased by farmers for other uses. When 
these are brought home by the purchasers, 
the packing material is thoughtlessly emp- 
tied out upon the manure heap or thrown 
aside, the weed seeds which it contains are 



Distrihiition and Propagation. 47 

then given opportunity to produce plants 
in centers perhaps hundreds or thousands 
of miles distant from the nearest point 
where any of the same species may be 
growing. In this fact we find an explana- 
tion of the sudden appearance of weeds in 
new centers where their presence otherwise 
would be hard to account for; and this is 
more especially true of sections in proxim- 
ity to cities. 

As a similar method of weed distribu- 
tion, it may be mentioned that in the days 
of early settlement, travelers used to carry 
many weed seeds in the provender that they 
brought with them for their horses, and 
which the animals ate by the road sides, or 
wherever convenient; and the same state- 
ment is true of the pioneer settlers of the 
Northwest, who thus often introduced 
weed seeds into their allotments before they 
sowed their first crop. 

6. Road and farm vehicles. Noxious 
weed seeds are frequently brought to farms 
by the wheels of vehicles which have been 
driven 'along the highway. The spread of 
ragweed furnishes a familiar example of 
this sort of weed distribution. The seeds 
of this weed, and also of others that grow 



48 Weeds. 

along the public roads, are carried in the 
mud and dirt and dust that cling to the 
wheels of every passing vehicle, and in 
this way they are brought onto the farm. 
Sometimes they are thus conveyed for 
miles, not merely by the vehicles used by 
the farmer himself, but also by those 
belonging to others ; from this sort of inva- 
sion the farmer is, in a sense, powerless to 
protect himself. In a similar manner, weed 
seeds are also conveyed from one part of 
the farm to another. 

/.Implements of tillage. Weeds are, to 
a considerable extent, distributed by the 
ordinary implements of farm tillage, to 
which they cling during the various pro- 
cesses of cultivation. While this is true to 
some extent of all kinds of weeds, it is 
more especially true of those weeds which 
multiply by means of creeping root-stocks. 
These root-stocks readily cling to the plow, 
harrow, or cultivator, and are thus carried 
from one portion of a field to another, or 
even from one field to another; and thus 
new centers of distribution are constantly 
being established. This is especially true 
when the ground is so damp that it tends 
to stick to the implements used. Seeds or 



Distribution and t^ropagatwn. 49 

root-stocks embedded in the earth that is 
thus carried from place to place are depos- 
ited in new centers, where they spring up 
to carry on the work of further multipli- 
cation. The distributing power of the 
implements of tillage under favorable con- 
ditions furnishes us with one explanation 
of the rapid multiplication in our fields of 
such weeds as quack grass and the Canada 
thistle, when once these pests have obtained 
a footing in them. 

8. Thrashing machines. Thrashing ma- 
chines, during the season in which they 
are used, are continually bearing the seeds 
of noxious weeds from farm to farm, and 
from district to district ; for at every thrash- 
ing, if weed seeds are present at all, some 
of them are sure to become lodged in the 
various parts of the machines, and to 
remain long enough to be carried away. 
In this manner, from year to year, a very 
general local distribution is sure to be 
effected of every form . of noxious weed 
which matures its seeds in a grain crop. 
Farms that are managed in the best man- 
ner often become thus infected with noxious 
weed life. 



50 w eeas. 

p. Railzvays. Railways seem to be a 
wonderfully effective agency in the distri- 
bution of weeds, by means of the fodder 
supplied to the horses and other animals 
used in constructing them, and the bedding 
of cars in which live stock is carried. The 
litter with which these cars are suppHed 
frequently contains noxious weed seeds ; 
these, falling to the ground, grow in the 
soil along the track and commence to repro- 
duce their kind. A third explanation is 
found in the fact that oftentimes the weed 
seeds contained in the grain that is being 
shipped escape through leaks in the cars 
and fall to the sides of the track, where they 
often find conditions quite suitable to their 
germination. In these and other ways, the 
railways of the country have become largely 
responsible for the introduction of new and 
troublesome weeds into localities where pre- 
viously they were unknown. 

10. Birds. Birds carry weed seeds to 
great distances. A sprig of a plant on 
which the seeds have not left the capsules 
in which they grew is caught up by a bird 
and carried to some distant place where 
the food which its seeds afford can be 
enjoyed without molestation. Some of the 



Dtstrivution and Propagation. 51 

seeds thus carried fall by the way, and 
start new centers of weed distribution. The 
instinct for nest-building not infrequently 
leads to similar results. In this fact we 
find an explanation of the unexpected 
appearance of weeds along the edges of 
forests, and in other localities where the 
soil has never been subjected to cultivation. 

//. Wild animals. Certain wild animals 
are the local distributors of weeds, for, 
being fond of a varied diet, they include 
the seeds of certain weeds in their list of 
desirable foods. Sometimes they bury or 
store away weed seeds when layng up their 
winter's supply. They also use the foli- 
age and stems of weeds in building their 
lairs or nests. When gathering these, they 
sometimes attempt to carry loads which are 
more than they can manage, and so leave 
a part upon the way, for which they may 
not return. The seeds that are thus dis- 
tributed here and there on the soil, or are 
dropped at the mouth of the burrow, or left 
unconsumed in the nest, spring at length 
into vigorous life, and commence again the 
work of weed distribution. 

12. Waiters. Few agencies are more 
potent in the distribution of the seeds of 



52 Weeds. 

weeds, especially of such seeds as float read- 
ily, than water. When the valleys are del- 
uged by heavy rains, or when they are 
turned into streams or rivers by the melt- 
ing of the snows, such weed seeds are car- 
ried in countless numbers to lower levels, 
on the soil of which they are deposited 
when the waters recede. A fresh seeding is 
in this way scattered from year to year 
over the surfaces that are thus exposed. 
At present, there is no effectual protection 
from this sort of invasion. So long as care- 
less farmers on the higher grounds allow 
the seeds of noxious weeds to ripen annu- 
ally on their fields, so long will the farniers 
on the lower levels have weed seeds strewn 
upon their fields in countless numbers. The 
only remedy is for the law in some way to 
intervene and compel the careless farmer to 
cease troubling, in this most reprehensible 
way, his unoffending neighbor. 

/J. Winds. Some forms of weed life 
are widely distributed through the agency 
of winds. This is especially true of those 
weeds, the seeds of which have downy 
attachments that enable them to rise in the 
air when they are fully matured. Happily 
for the agriculturist, many of the seeds so 



Distribution and Propagation. 53 

endowed do not grow for lack of proper 
fertilization; but enough are fertilized to 
give the farmer much trouble. Hence many 
sorts of weeds are continually finding their 
way to new centers, to which they have a 
passage as silent as it is free. Some of 
these downy travelers are able to sustaui 
their flight to incredible distances; others, 
on account of their greater weight, are car- 
ried but for short distances. It should cer- 
tainly fill us with some concern to reflect 
that the winds while purifying the atmos- 
phere, are also engaged, especially in cer- 
tain seasons of the year, in scattering every- 
where the seeds of many exceedingly 
troublesome weeds. While it is greatly 
important that no form of noxious weed 
should ever be allowed to mature its seed, 
it is doubly so in the case of weeds, the 
seeds of which are able to rise in the air. 

Winds distribute the seeds of weeds by 
their driving as well as by their car- 
rying power. The seeds of some weeds 
remain in their capsules long after their 
season of growth is over ; in some instances 
even until the approach of spring. These 
are often shaken out by the force of the 
winter winds, and are driven incredibly 



54 Weeds. 

long distances, till at length they find a rest- 
ing place. Then, when spring arrives, they 
begin their work of reproduction. 

In the carrying and driving power of the 
wind, we find an explanation of what would 
otherwise be difficult of solution, namely, 
the sudden appearance of weeds in count- 
less numbers in areas which have been 
broken for the first time, or from which 
the forests have been but recently removed. 
In some instances, the weeds appear in 
numbers so s:reat that for a time thev form 
the principal product of the soil. It is this 
phenomenon which has given rise to the 
baseless opinion, still cherished by many, 
that weeds originate spontaneously, spring- 
ing into life without a seed germ, or else 
that they grow from seed which has been 
for ages lying in the soil. 

14. Inherent powers of the weeds them- 
selves. Weeds also spread and distribute 
themselves by means of what may be 
termed their own inherent powers ; that is 
to say, by ripening seeds which are shed 
on the ground around the parent stem, or 
by means of creeping root-stocks. By the 
former method, whole families are often 
reproduced around one parent stem in a 



Distribution and Propagation. 55 

single season ; and by the latter many weeds 
are continually spreading and occupying 
wider and wider areas. These powers of 
reproduction enable weeds to multiply rap- 
idly, without the aid of any of the agencies 
previously mentioned, when once they have 
been brought into new centers by one or 
another of these agencies. 

With the agencies that have been men- 
tioned continually engaged in the work of 
weed distribution, and also with others that 
have not been mentioned, the task of the 
eradication of weeds at first thought seems 
appalling. While the power of weeds to 
multiply and spread is very great, the power 
of man to destroy them is greater, unless 
this limitless power is allowed to pass unu- 
tilized with the rush of crowding oppor- 
tunities. While it is true that there can 
be no discharge in this war, it is equally 
true that there can be no defeat for the 
resolute tiller of the soil who persistently 
and constantly strives to keep his farm 
clean. 

It has already been mentioned that over 
some of these agencies of weed distribu- 
tion we can exercise but little or no control. 
These are the agencies of nature — as wind 



56 Weeds. 

and water, and such other agencies as wild 
animals and birds. So far as these are con- 
cerned, we must submit to the inevitable, 
and fight them, when we are subjected to 
their influence, as best we may. Our 
resource here is to kill the weeds as soon 
as possible after they appear, or at least 
before they mature their seeds. 

Where the agencies are but partially 
under our control, as implements of tillage 
or thrashing machines, our duty is, by 
watchfulness, patience, and care, to control 
the agencies so far as we have power. The 
judicious exercise of this control will always 
be found easier than the eradication of the 
weeds which they have been allowed to 
bring to us. 

When the agencies are practically com- 
pletely under our control, as that of the 
inherent power of the weed plant to ripen 
its own seeds, or to spread itself by means 
of creeping root-stocks, the measure of the 
persistency of our efforts to defeat this 
power will be the measure of the time 
required to effect complete extermination. 
If weeds multiply upon our farms by the 
shedding of their seeds, it is because we 
allow them to do so; and if they multiply 



Distribution and Propagation. 57 

by means of lateral root extension, it is 
because we do not use the resources 
which we have at command to pre- 
vent this extension. The farmers who 
tolerate either of these methods of weed 
distribution will never have clean farms. 
We sympathize with the man of scrip- 
ture in whose fields, when he slept, 
the enemy sowed tares ; but he deserves no 
sympathy who negligently allows weeds to 
ripen their seeds upon his farm, or to prop- 
agate themselves by means of root exten- 
sion. Such a man is indifferent to his own 
true interests, for he allows voracious 
intruders from year to year to prey upon 
the sources of his own prosperity. 



CHAPTER V. 

METHODS AND PRINCIPLES GENERALLY 

APPLICABLE IN THE DESTRUCTION OF 

WEEDS. 

In the conflict with weeds, there are cer- 
tain general methods and principles which 
are applicable in a greater or less degree 
for the destruction of all weeds ; and there 
are also certain specific modes of treatment 
which apply only to the eradication of par- 
ticular sorts of weeds. In the present chap- 
ter we shall consider the general methods 
and principles applicable in weed destruc- 
tion, and in the following chapters treat of 
the specific modes which are applicable only 
in particular cases. 

The general methods and principles 
applicable in weed destruction which, in 
the writer's opinion, are of the most conse- 
quence, may be described as follows : 



Methods of Eradication. 59 

(i) The persistent and careful study of 
the habits of growth of aU the various sorts 
of weeds with which one's farm is infested, 
so as to be able to deal with them in the 
most rational way possible. 

(2) The modification (when necessary) 
of the scheme of rotation that has been 
adopted, so that such crops as allow the 
seeds of the weeds which infest them to 
ripen may, for a time, be omitted from the 
rotation. 

(3) When certain methods of eradica- 
tion have been fixed upon, the careful and 
wise adaptation of these methods to such 
conditions of soil and climate as are found 
in the locality concerned. 

(4) The exercise of due care, when 
seeds are purchased, to see that they are 
perfectly pure, that is, perfectly free from 
the seeds of weeds ; and also the exercise 
of due care with respect to such seeds as 
are grown at home to see that they, too, 
are perfectly free from weed seeds. 

(5) The exercise of due care to see that 
the thrashing machine, especially when it 
comes directly from a farm infested with 
any form of noxious weed, is thoroughly 
cleaned before it is used. 



6o Weeds. 

(6) The exercise of due care to see that 
the chaff from the fanning mill, when it is 
suspected of containing any weed seeds, is 
burnt or othei-vvise thoroughly destroyed 
and that all screenings are also carefully 
looked after. 

(7) The growing of cultivated crops 
upon the farm infested, to the largest extent 
that is practicable. 

(8) The growing of clover and alfalfa, 
so far as this can be done with profit. 

(9) The growing of soiling crops, to the 
extent that may be found practicable, both 
because of the fact that they can be cut 
almost at any time that is desirable, and 
also because of their "smothering" prop- 
erties. 

(10) The utilizing of sheep for the 
destruction of weeds in pastures. 

(11) The growing at home, as far as 
possible, of the food required by the live 
stock of the farm, instead of purchasing it 
elsewhere. 

(12) The keeping of the land of the 
farm constantly at work, so far as this can 
possibly be effected. 

(13) The stimulation of the soil to a con- 
stantly vigorous production by means of 



Methods of Eradication. 6i 

thorough working and a large use of 
manure. 

( 14) The practice of autumn cultivation 
to the largest extent that is possible. 

(15) The exercise of the utmost possible 
precaution that no weed seeds ripen upon 
the farm, if by any means their ripening 
can be prevented. 

(16) The sowing of two or three crops 
in succession the same season and grazing 
them down with sheep. 

(17) The giving of due heed to all the 
agencies by which weeds are distributed 
and propagated, so as always to be able to 
counteract or defeat those agencies. 

(18) When once the work of eradica- 
tion has been undertaken, the making of it 
as thorough as possible, and the accom- 
plishment of it in the shortest possible time. 

(19) When once a state of cleanliness 
has been secured, the maintenance of it 
thereafter as perfectly as possible under all 
circumstances. 

It is greatly important that these general 
principles and methods of weed destruc- 
tion should be well understood and care- 
fully observed; for these are even more 
important than those specific modes of weed 



62 Weeds. 

destruction which are described in the fol- 
lowing chapters. In fact, unless in our 
management of the farm we pay the utmost 
heed to these general principles and methods 
of weed destruction, we can never hope to 
be completely successful in our war with 
weeds. As the writer has made it his habit 
for many years to test the value of these 
general principles and methods by con- 
stantly putting them into practice, he will 
here set down in specific directions, for the 
benefit of his brother farmers in this most 
important question of weed destruction, 
such remarks as he thinks his experience 
entitles him to make. 

I. Study their habits of grozvth. In the 
war with weeds, we must study their hab- 
its of growth, and adapt our methods of 
fighting them to fit in with these habits. 
Weeds, like other plants, are classified as 
annuals, biennials, and perennials. 

Annuals, as their name implies, complete 
the cycle of their existence in a single sea- 
son, although in some instances they may 
start growth in the fall, particularly in the 
warmer sections. They are then called 
zvinter annuals. Common examples of this 
class are shepherd's purse, chickweed and 



Habits of Growth, 63 

cheat, while among our cultivated crops, 
winter rye and winter wheat are winter 
annuals. More commonly, annuals begin 
to grow toward the approach of spring. 
Common examples of summer or ordinary 
annuals are ragweed, foxtail and pigweed, 
while among our cultivated crops we have 
corn, oats, flax, spring wheat, and many 
others. It follows, then, that as annual 
weeds can live but a single season, if the 
plants of any particular sort of weeds of 
this class on any farm are prevented from 
ripening their seeds year by year through 
successive years, the time must come sooner 
or later when that sort of weed will be 
completely destroyed on that farm. This is 
true whatever may be the means that may 
be adopted to prevent the seeds from ripen- 
ing. In fact, the weeds would all be 
destroyed in a single year were it not that 
many seeds have great power to resist 
decay, and many remain in the soil for 
many years without their vitality being lost 
or even impaired. Some seeds of this class 
of weeds, as those of wild mustard, retain 
their vitality for an incredible length of 
time; so that whenever they are brought 
sufficiently near the surface by cultivation, 



64 Weeds. 

or by other means, at any time during the 
congenial season of growth, they at once 
spring into vigorous Hfe. The means to 
be taken in destroying weeds that are 
annuals should be, first, to prevent them 
from maturing their seeds ; and, second, to 
adopt such modes of cultivation as will 
most quickly force the seeds that are in the 
soil into germination, so that they may 
spring up and be destroyed. The means 
best fitted to secure this quick germination 
of the buried seeds of annuals are the 
growing of cultivated crops and "autumn 
cultivation." At all events, when the seeds 
of annual weeds are kept from ripening 
year after year, and when the agencies con- 
cerned in their dissemination are effectu- 
ally looked after and checkmated, the time 
cannot fail to come when this class of weeds 
will all be destroyed. 

Biennial weeds complete the cycle of 
their existence in two years. Many of 
them are characterized by a tap root, grow- 
ing deep into the soil. During the first year 
large quantities of starch are stored up in 
this root, which is utilized the next year in 
producing an abundance of seeds. The 
burdock furnishes an excellent example oi 



Habits of Growth. 65 

this sort of weed, being well known and 
common in many lands, while among our 
crop plants red clover is our most common 
biennial. As biennial weeds are repro- 
duced from seed only, it is evident that any 
mode of destruction that will prevent them 
from producing seed will also in time effect 
their destruction, but it may take years to 
accomplish this, as the seeds of this class 
also have great vitality. Fortunately, how- 
ever, biennial weeds cannot well resist the 
destructive effects upon their roots of thor- 
ough cultivation; hence we find this class 
of weeds more common in old meadows 
and pastures, along roadsides, and in waste 
lands generally, than in fields that are cul- 
tivated. In areas which cannot be culti- 
vated, therefore, their destruction is more 
difficult than elsewhere. To destrov them 
in these places persistent cutting with the 
mower, scythe, or spud is the only method 
that can be adopted ; but it should be borne 
in mind that with many varieties of bien- 
nial weeds there is not only a great persis- 
tency of growth, but also, during the sec- 
ond year, a great persistency of effort to 
produce their seeds, even though they are 
cut off several times during the season. 



66 Weeds. 

Perennials, as their name implies, live 
from year to year. Of perennial weeds 
there are two classes, viz., the perennial 
with an ordinary root, and the perennial 
with a creeping root-stock. The perennial 
weed with an ordinary root-stock, or, as we 
may call it for our purpose, the ordinary 
perennial, is reproduced from seed only. 
The ox-eye daisy is a common example of 
this sort of weed, and the plantain is 
another, while alfalfa is a perennial field 
crop. The ereeping perennial, as we may 
call it, is not only reproduced from seed, 
but is also propagated by means of its hor- 
izontal root-stocks, which run, or "creep," 
through the soil in various directions from 
the parent stem. These creeping root-stocks 
are furnished with many latent buds, each 
one of which, under conditions favorable to 
vigorous growth, is capable of sending up 
a fresh plant to the surface. It follows, 
then, that the cultivation which does not 
weaken and destroy creeping perennials 
necessarily favors their increase, inasmuch 
as a soil that has been recently stirred is 
more easily penetrated by the creeping root- 
stocks than one that has not been so stirred, 
and has become more compact. Whenever 



Habits of Grozvth. by 

any disturbing action is brought to bear 
upon these root-stocks, as, for example, 
breaking them off from their parent stem 
by the implements of tillage, a fresh impulse 
is given to their growth. Each rootlet so 
severed attempts to develop into a complete 
plant. Hence it is that, in moist weather, 
ordinary cultivation is more likely to pro- 
mote than hinder the growth of this class 
of weeds. The influence of summer-fallows 
and of cultivated crops which are poorly 
cared for, is also in the same direction. 
Creeping perennials are also likely to cling 
to the implements of tillage, and thus be 
carried from one part of the field to another, 
and even to other fields. The Canada this- 
tle, the common sow thistle, and quack 
grass furnish familiar examples of creep- 
ing perennials ; and we are sure the experi- 
ence of our readers will bear us out in what 
we have just said of the tendency of culti- 
vation, in moist weather, to promote their 
increase. 

To destroy creeping perennials we must 
labor either to smother them, or else by 
cultivation to bring their roots to the sur- 
face, where they will perish by exposure to 
the air and sunshine. By "smothering" 



68 Weeds, 

them is meant keeping them constantly 
under ground. If creeping perennials are 
kept beneath the surface of the ground for 
some months during the early spring and 
summer, they will perish in a single season, 
and this result will be gained whatever may 
be the means made use of to effect it, 
whether spudding, plowing, cultivating, or 
covering. 

It is sometimes asserted, and the asser- 
tion is commonly accepted as true, that 
creeping pereimials are more difficult to 
destroy than other classes of weeds. This 
assertion is supported by the specious argu- 
ment, that whereas creeping perennials have 
two means of propagation, (i) their seeds, 
and (2) their creeping root-stocks, which 
push their way through the soil in every 
direction, annual and biennial weeds, and 
ordinary perennials also, have but one 
means of propagation, namely, their seeds 
alone. It should be remembered that, in 
making this comparison, other things have 
to be considered. We must also take into 
account the number of seeds produced by 
each sort of weed, their vitality, and the 
modes by which these seeds are distributed 
and fresh plants produced, the crops that 



Habits of Grozvth, 69 

are infested by each particular kind of weed, 
and the power which the various kinds pos- 
sess of maintaining themselves in perma- 
nent pastures and waste places. 

Some annuals, such as ragweed, bear 
seeds in almost countless numbers, whereas 
the number of seeds produced by creeping 
perennials is usually not very large. The 
diversion of the energies of creeping peren- 
nials from seed-bearing to increase by 
means of their root-stocks is, therefore, so 
far unfavorable to their reproduction that 
the excess of seed production in annuals 
not infrequently more than counterbalances 
the advantage gained by creeping perennials 
by reason of the dual powers of propaga- 
tion which they possess. Moreover, the vital- 
ity of the seeds of some sorts of annual 
weeds, as those of wild mustard, is so great 
that they seem to be able to retain their abil- 
ity to grow for a much longer period than 
the seeds of creeping perennials. Again, 
when the seeds of" an annual or biennial 
weed are transported from place to place by 
water, or by animals, they are given an 
advantage which goes far to match the 
more dangerous powers possessed by the 
seeds of some perennial weeds, such as the 



70 Weeds. 

thistle, in their ability to travel from place 
to place through the agency of winds. 
Weeds which mature their seeds along with 
those of the clovers and grasses, as many 
ordinary perennial weeds do, are much 
more likely to be widely distributed than 
those which mature their seeds along 
with those of cereals, owing to the great 
difficulty that is experienced in separating 
the seeds of weeds from the seeds of clov- 
ers and grasses. Again, some forms of 
weed life, particularly some biennial weeds, 
find a congenial and permanent home in 
pastures and waste places, although in cul- 
tivated fields they might not prove very 
harmful. The labor required to remove 
these weeds from such places is very great, 
as it has generally to be done by hand; 
whereas in the same localities annuals -and 
perennials may not be able to get a footing, 
because of unfavorable conditions. On 
account of these conditions, and of others 
not named, such as the congeniality or 
uncongeniahty of soils, it will be found that 
in some localities the weeds most difficult 
of eradication will be annuals, in others they 
will be biennials, in others they will be ordi- 



Change of Rotation. yi 

nary perennials, and in yet others, creeping 
perennials. 

2. Modify the rotation. In the conflict 
with weeds, it is greatly advantageous to 
drop out of the rotation for a time such 
crops as allow the weeds which infest the 
soil where they grow to ripen their seeds. 
Some weeds, as, for example, those which 
grow as winter annuals, ripen their seeds 
early in the season. The seeds of these 
weeds mature in crops of winter wheat, rye, 
and hay, but ordinarily they do not mature 
in spring cereal crops, for the reason that 
these weeds begin their growth in the pre- 
vious autumn. If, therefore, in the infested 
fields winter wheat, rye, and hay are 
dropped out of the rotation for a short 
time, and spring crops grown in their stead, 
the destruction of the weeds mentioned and 
of those of kindred habits v/ill be greatly 
facilitated. Other weeds ripen their seeds 
late. Ragweed, for example, more com- 
monly grows up after the early cereal crops 
and meadows have been cut, and, if undis- 
turbed, it matures its seeds before frost. 
Grass seed, therefore, in fields infested with 
this sort of weed, should not be sown for 
the purpose of producing meadow until the 



^2 Weeds. 

ragweed seeds have become greatly reduced 
in number through the growing of crops 
which require late cultivation. Other weeds, 
such as the Canada thistle, grow in all kinds 
of crops, so that when a piece of ground is 
badly infested with them some kind of cul- 
tivated crop should be grown upon it, as 
the constant cultivation required will tend 
to destroy them while the crop is growing. 

Farmers are usually much averse to a 
modification of their fixed scheme of rota- 
tion, even for a limited time; and more 
especially so when the modification inter- 
feres with those crops which have been their 
chief source of cash revenue. Notwith- 
standing this, the truth remains that where 
the modification required for the destruc- 
tion of any sort of weed is not made, the 
ultimate eradication of this weed will be 
found a very difficult matter. 

J. Adapt methods to conditions. In our 
attempts to eradicate weeds, we should care- 
fully adapt .the methods that we follow to 
those conditions of soil, climate, cultiva- 
tion, etc., which we find to exist. These 
conditions have, of course, an important 
bearing on the growth of weeds, and, 
therefore, upon their destruction. In stiff 



Adapt Methods to Conditions. 73 

clay soils with a hard subsoil, the Canada 
thistle, for instance, can be destroyed by 
simply turning the land into pasture, and 
mowing down the thistles when m blossom, 
and again at a period considerably later. 
On other soils of more open texture this 
mode of destroying thistles would not suc- 
ceed for a long time, if at all. In some 
climates a considerable proportion of the 
seeds of the Canada thistle are fertilized, 
and will therefore grow; while in other 
localities it does not seem very harmful to 
allow the thistle to be harvested along with 
tli£ crops in which they ripen, because of 
the inability of their seeds to grow for lack 
of proper fertilization. Other kinds of 
weeds, as sheep sorrel, are almost harmless 
in certain sections ; whereas in others they 
become great pests. Where winter wheat 
or rye is grown extensively, specific meas- 
ures might be necessary to destroy winter 
annuals ; whereas, if the wheat or the rye 
were not of much account in the rotation, 
it would be an easy matter to get rid of this 
class of weeds by growing spring crops 
successively for a few years. 

If therefore, we wish to destroy a par- 
ticular sort of weed with the least possible 



74 Weeds. 

expenditure of labor, we must study the 
habits of that weed as affected by the con- 
ditions under which it grows. Under some 
conditions, ordinary "good farming" will 
generally banish a weed ; while under oth- 
ers "specific methods," energetically and 
persistently applied, will be absolutely 
necessary. It is apparent, therefore, that 
for the destruction of weeds hard and fast 
rules that will be equally applicable under 
all circumstances cannot be laid down, for 
what would be a proper course to pursue 
under some conditions may be wholly unfit 
under others. 

4. Sozv only clean seed. Where farms 
are to be made clean, and to be kept so, 
great care should be exercised in the pur- 
chase of seeds, and also in the preparation 
for the sowing of those grown at home. The 
distribution of weeds is more widely effected 
through the agepcy of the seeds sown for 
useful crops than in any other way, as was 
shown in Chapter IV. It has, doubtless, 
been through this agency that nearly all 
our foreign weeds have been brought to 
our land. It is not enough for the seeds- 
man to assure us that his seeds are clean, 
for he may be deceived himself. If his 



Sozv Clean Seed. 75 

small seeds have not been carefully hand- 
picked, he can have no certain assurance 
except by critical examination that they are 
clean ; and in the preparation for sowing of 
the great variety of seeds in which he deals 
hand-picking is out of the question. Pur- 
chased seeds, therefore, should not only be 
examined with the utmost care, and be 
cleaned again if weed seeds are discovered 
in them, but the crops that are raised from 
them should receive the most careful scru- 
tiny while they are growing, so long as 
there is any ground for suspecting that 
weeds also are growing among them. As 
weed seeds are oftener carried in the seeds 
of clovers and grasses than in other ways, 
particular care should be exercised in the 
purchase of any seeds of these crops. 

It may, indeed, be wise to grow at home 
many sorts of seeds that are now commonly 
purchased, or else to buy them from a 
neighbor who has a reputation for growing 
pure seeds. It would be well, too, when 
attempting to raise one's own seed, to select 
but a small portion of the crop for this pur- 
pose, and to take special pains to prevent 
any noxious weeds from maturing their 
seeds in this portion ; and this plan should 



"jd Weeds. 

be followed with all the crops grown for 
seed, especially grasses and clovers. It 
has already been mentioned that weed seeds 
frequently come to us in the seed grains 
brought to our farms for the purpose of 
effecting a change of seed. The danger 
here, though not easily altogether averted, 
may yet be lessened. If the seed of all 
cereal grains were carefully prepared by 
such a process of screening as would sift 
out all the smaller seeds from it, deteriora- 
tion in the seed of this class of crops would 
be very much less rapid than it now is, and 
a change of seed would much seldomer be 
required. The farmer who is so careless 
as to sow unclean seed of his own raising, 
or so foolish as to purchase unclean seed 
from the seedsman because it can be bought 
cheaply is, however, not likely to be greatly 
concerned as to whether his farm is clean 
or is not clean. 

5. Thoroughly clean the thrashing 
machine before using it. Thrashing 
machines, especially if they come from a 
farm with a reputation for uncleanness, 
should be carefully swept before being set 
to work. If, in addition, they are made 
at the first to run empty for a short time, 



Watch the Grain Screenings. 7; 

and the seeds that are caught in the grain 
box are destroyed, the danger from them 
is even more completely averted. Because 
of the fact that thrashing machines are 
often instrumental in carrying weed seeds 
from one locality to another, it has often 
been found advisable for several farmers to 
club together and purchase a machine of 
their own. For the same reason, small 
machines run by tread power are some- 
times used by individual farmers. How- 
ever, these methods of fighting weeds have 
obvious disadvantages which will prevent 
their general adoption. 

6. Give attention to grain screenings. 
The chaff and screenings from the fanning 
mill should receive the most careful atten- 
tion. Whenever weed seeds are suspected, 
the chaff from the winnowed grain that is 
being prepared for market, or indeed for 
any other use, should be burned. The 
screenings should be ground, boiled or 
steamed before being fed; or if fed other- 
wise, they should be strewn on surfaces 
where the weed seeds they contain are not 
likely to do any harm. The proportion of 
weed seeds grown in a crop which collect 
in the screenings obtained in cleaning it is 



7^ Weeds. 

relatively , very large ; hence the opportu- 
nity to destroy these weed seeds, when they 
are" thus collected, should by no means be 
neglected. 

7. Groiv cultivated crops. Wherever it 
is desired to subdue noxious weeds zvholly, 
cultivated crops should be grown to the 
greatest extent that is practicable. The 
reasons are obvious. The cultivation of 
these crops gives opportunity, at almost 
every period of the growing season, for 
the combating of almost every form 
of weed life. The working of the soil 
necessary for the production of good 
crops not only destroys, from time to 
time, the weeds that are growing in them, 
but it also stimulates the germination of the 
weed seeds lying in the soil, so that they, 
too, grow up and are destroyed ; and in this 
way it greatly reduces their numbers in a 
single season. Many farmers cling to the 
opinion that, in the fight with weeds, cul- 
tivated crops are not very helpful. They 
point to the fact that they have grown these 
crops from year to year on the same fields, 
yet the weeds in these very fields have 
increased. This may have been true, but 
when it has been so, the crops have cer- 



Groiv Cultivated Crops. 79 

tainly not been properly cared for ; for 
otherwise the weeds would have gradually 
decreased, rather than increased. No other 
result could possibly follow where a succes- 
sion of cultivated crops had been raised, 
in which no weed had been allowed to ripen 
its seeds. Other farmers cling to the opin- 
ion that, whatever may be the value of cul- 
tivated crops for destroying weeds in gen- 
eral, they are not helpful in the fight with 
creeping perennials ; or, at least, that these 
crops are not so, effective as the bare fallow 
for the destruction of creeping perennials 
in a single season. This view^ is a mistaken 
one. It has arisen, doubtless, from the too 
common practice of staying the destructive 
processes too early in the season. Going 
over the crop with the hand hoe once, twice, 
or oftener, after horse cultivation ceases, 
and removing all stray weeds that may 
appear, will, as a rule, make a thorough 
job of the work of destroying creeping 
perennials, except so far as their seeds 
remain in the soH. The weather must, how- 
ever, be fairly dry if success is to be com- 
plete. 

It is only too true that where cultivated 
crops are grown, and sufficient attention is 



8o Weeds. 

not given to the work of keeping them quite 
clean, their growth only serves to encour- 
age the increase of weeds in general, and 
of creeping perennials in particular. Their 
cultivation furnishes conditions very favor- 
able to the lateral extension of the root- 
stocks of creeping perennials. It is also 
equally favorable to the development in 
robust vigor of annuals ; so that it not infre- 
quently happens that where a cultivated 
crop is grown, and sufficient care is not 
taken with it, these annual weeds perfect 
their seeds in great numbers, thus making 
the state of the field at the end of the sea- 
son, so far as weed seeds are concerned, 
worse than it was at the beginning. Where 
cultivated crops cannot be grown success- 
fully, that is, so far as weed destruction is 
concerned, a modified form of the bare fal- 
low, as described farther on in this chap- 
ter, may take their place. 

8. Grow clover and alfalfa. Where the 
conditions are favorable to their growth, 
the raising of crops of clover and alfalfa 
will be found helpful in the reduction of 
weeds ; and more especially is this true of 
the common red clover. These crops are 
not only valuable in weed destruction 



Grow Clover and Alfalfa. 8i 

because of the frequency with which they 
are generally cut, but also because of their 
"smothering" tendencies, especially on good 
soil and in suitable seasons. Common red 
clover may generally be cut twice a year — 
a process which usually renders it impos- 
sible for perennial weeds growing in it to 
ripen their seeds the same season. Alfalfa 
may generally be cut oftener than twice a 
year. When a luxuriant growth is obtained, 
both these crops tend to smother and 
weaken the perennial weeds growing among 
them. When these crops are grown to be 
cut for fodder, the ripening of annual and 
biennial weeds growing among them is also 
pretty effectively hindered, but if they are 
allowed to mature their seeds, some kinds 
of weeds will also ripen theirs along with 
them. 

Although alfalfa is even more valuable 
than common red clover for the purpose 
of checking the ripening of weed seeds, 
owing to the greater frequency with which 
it is cut, yet since it can be grown only on 
certain kinds of soils its use as an aid in 
weed destruction is x:onsiderably circum- 
scribed. Both crops are also excellent for 
other purposes, as the bringing of nitrogen 



82 Weeds. 

to the soil when they are plowed under, 
and so providing a more abundant store of 
this most necessary plant food ; hence much 
attention may consistently be given to grow- 
ing them for other reasons than the service 
which they render in weed destruction. It 
may also Be mentioned that after the last 
cutting of these crops for the season the 
ground may very profitably be gone over 
with the spud for the purpose of destroying 
the creeping perennials which may then be 
growing. This last precaution will be found 
to be greatly helpful in speedily completing 
the work of extermination. 

p. Groiv soiling crops. In the work of 
eradicating weeds, crops which are to be 
cut green for feed will be found very help- 
ful, especially where the other requirements 
of the farm render it advisable to grow 
them. This is owing to their smothering 
tendencies ; to the fact that they can be cut 
before certain weeds which grow in them 
have opportunity to mature; and because 
in many instances two soiling crops can be 
grown in a single season, hence the benefits 
derived^ from their cultivation can to some 
extent be duplicated on the same soil in 
the same year. As these crops are not 



Grow Soiling Crops. 83 

designed to mature their seeds, they may 
be sown more thickly than other crops ; 
hence their smothering power is greater 
than if they were grown for the grain to be 
V obtained from them ; yet if they are required 
for winter fodder, they may be allowed to 
become so nearly ripe before being cut that 
their grain is mature enough to possess con- 
siderable feeding value, without allowing 
many of the sorts of weeds that grow 
among them to mature their seed. For 
example, they may be grown in this way 
and yet be cut before such weeds as the 
Canada thistle or the perennial sow thistle 
have opportunity to ripen their seeds ; hence 
the cultivation of soiling crops has a ten- 
dency to weaken the vigor of these weeds, 
and to prevent their further increase. Some 
of the most mischievous annual w^eeds and 
biennial weeds may be prevented from 
ripening their seeds in these crops ; in fact, 
many of these weeds cannot possibly ripen 
their seeds if the soiling crop amid which 
they grow is properly looked after. Because 
of the further fact that frequently two soil- 
ing crops may be growti upon the same field 
during the same season, the cultivation of 
these crops becomes an excellent means for 



84 Weeds. 

destroying a specially troublesome weed like 
the Canada thistle, whose habit leads it to 
grow throughout the whole season, as well 
as such weeds as mature their seeds very 
early in the season, or such as mature their 
seeds very late ; or, if it be desirable to take 
advantage of it, the growing of an early 
soiling crop gives opportunity for subject- 
ing lands to the fallow process. 

10. Call in the aid of sheep. Those who 
have had experience in keeping sheep do 
not need to be told that where sheep are 
kept in sufficient numbers some forms of 
weed life soon entirely disappear, that other 
forms are much crippled in their powers of 
growth and so gradually disappear, while 
still other forms are weakened though they 
may not be entirely destroyed. On pasture 
lands with stiff clay subsoils, sheep will 
eventually prove more than a match for the 
Canada thistle, if the pasture is at all times 
kept closely eaten, but several seasons of 
such cropping may be required to effect this 
end. Nearly all biennial weeds and some 
perennials as, for example, the ox-eye daisy, 
will be greatly checked when thus pastured ; 
and the same is true of some annuals, as 
ragweed and wheat thief. If sheep are 



Grow Feeds at Home. 85 

thus allowed to act as scavengers, they will 
render excellent service in the work of weed 
extermination, more especially in perma- 
nent pastures, on private roads, along fence 
borders, in grain stubble and in corners and 
waste places generally. In order that this 
work may be done thoroughly, the pastures 
should be kept closely eaten from early 
spring. Many weeds are then so tender and 
succulent that the sheep will eat them ; 
whereas, when the weeds are at a more 
advanced stage of growth, they will persis- 
tently reject them, unless they are impelled 
to feed upon them through the sheer force 
of hunger; and when weeds are thus kept 
closely cropped, the hand cutting or hand 
spudding that may be required to complete 
their destruction is greatly reduced. There 
is probably no way in which weeds can so 
profitably be used as by turning them into 
mutton. 

II. Grow food supplies at home. To aim 
to grow food supplies at home, rather than 
to purchase them elsewhere, is a safe rule 
in farming, viewed from the standpoint of 
economy, even when the question of weeds 
is not taken into account at all. It is a rule 
that is much affected by considerations of 



86 Weeds. 

location, soil, climate, and other conditions, 
and is therefore not without its limitations ; 
but so important is it, notwithstanding all 
these considerations, that the aim should 
usually be to grow food supplies at home 
to the greatest possible extent. The effort 
thus made to increase production will prove 
greatly advantageous in reducing weeds. 
For example, when corn is grown for the 
silo to be used as winter fodder, it gives 
ample opportunity for checking those weeds 
which may attempt to grow in the corn ; 
whereas if they grew among crops that were 
raised for the sake of the grain to be sold 
from them, they might not be equally efifec- 
tually disturbed ; and it is generally evident 
that where food supplies are grown at 
home, the farmer has power to prevent the 
weeds which grow in the crops producing 
them from ripening their seeds, a power 
which he cannot possess when the food 
supplies are purchased elsewhere. It is 
true that the purchase of food supplies on 
a more or less extensive scale is sometimes 
a necessity, as where dairying and the keep- 
ing of live stock are largely engaged in, 
but all grains so purchased, when the pres- 
ence of weed seeds in them is suspected, 



Keep a Crop on the Land, 87 

should be ground or steamed before being 
fed, as was mentioned in Chapter IV. Even 
when such grains are fed to sheep, unless 
they are ground, a portion of the weed seeds 
contained in them is sure to find its way 
into the manure, and thus into the soil of 
the farm. When fodders containing weed 
seeds are purchased, the seeds contained in 
them cannot be prevented from getting into 
the manure unless the fodder is cut and 
steamed, a practice which is generally 
impracticable. 

12. Keep the land constantly at work. In 
the conflict with weeds, the land should be 
kept constantly at work. Upon some kinds 
of soil we can easily get two crops a year ; 
and where this can be done, the necessary 
cultivation will be found very helpful in the 
work of destroying weeds. The nature of 
the crops to be so raised will naturally 
depend largely upon climate, soil, and the 
requirements of the farm. As was men- 
tioned above in section 9, two soiling crops 
may sometimes be grown the same season. 
Again, an ordinary crop of grain or of 
meadow may generally be followed by a 
catch crop. In many sections, rye may be 
sown in the autumn, and be followed the 



88 Weeds. 

next spring or summer by a crop of corn, 
roots, or rape. When this is done, the rye 
may be cut green or plowed under as a 
green crop. Such soihng crops as oats and 
peas may be grown, and be followed by 
rape, turnips, or some other quick-growing 
crop. When the soiling crop has grown 
vigorously, and is followed by one of the 
crops mentioned, grown in drills and culti- 
vated, the effects in the way of weed 
destruction are very marked. As all these 
crops are of use only for feeding stock on 
the farm at home, the process of incessant 
cropping, such as we have here described, 
is helpful rather than otherwise to the fer- 
tility of the soil. There is the further 
advantage in thus keeping arable soils at 
work, that the nitrates of the soil are 
largely prevented from being washed out 
by rains. 

jj. Stimulate the land to produce plenti- 
fidly. Weeds can be much more easily 
dealt with when the land is kept constantly 
stimulated to vigorous productivity than 
when the soil is left to run down and 
become infertile for lack of proper manur- 
ing. When crops are strong, weeds do but 
little harm in them, compared with the 



Fertilise Heavily. 89 

injury they work when they are allowed to 
grow amid crops that are thin and poor. 
When the soil sustains a vigorous growth, 
the useful crops leave many forms of weeds 
behind in the race, especially in the early 
part of the season. Where the growth is 
vigorous in the early stages of the crop, 
the weeds have much less opportunity of 
monopolizing the growing area. Growing 
good crops is synonymous with good farm- 
ing ; that is, the raising of good crops is in 
itself a great hindrance to the multiplica- 
tion of weeds. This agrees with the well- 
known fact that the spread of weeds is usu- 
ally much more rapid and complete in 
impoverished farms than elsewhere, hence 
those who desire clean farms will have done 
much to secure the desired end when they 
adopt such measures as will also maintain 
them in a high state of fertility. Much 
may be done in the way of securing this 
fertility by growing catch crops for feed- 
ing off or plowing under after the earlier 
crops of the season have been removed. In 
all localities where the climate is not too 
severe, peas, buckwheat, and rape may all 
be grown as catch crops. The cultivation 
requisite for preparing the ground for these 



90 Weeds. 

crops is also good for the destruction of 
weeds. It may happen sometimes that the 
season will be so dry that the seeds sown 
for catch crops will not germinate ; when 
such is the case, the dry weather which pro- 
duces this result will also be hurtful to the 
growth of weeds. 

14. Practice autumn culti'o'ation. In the 
war with weeds, one of the very best meth- 
ods to be adopted is "autumn cultivation." 
It is questionable if any other means can be 
made use of that will so well repay the out- 
lay. Autumn cultivation means the tilling 
of the soil after harvest with a view largely 
to weed destruction. As soon as the crops 
are removed, the land that is not sown to 
grass should be plowed. All weeds that 
are above the surface of the ground at that 
time are thus turned under, while the weed 
seeds lying in the soil are encouraged to 
germinate. The weeds that grow from 
these may be destroyed by harrowing or by 
cultivating, or by the late autumn plowing 
that just precedes the advent of winter. In 
this w^ay myriads of weed plants will be 
got rid of in a single season. 

There are two real difficulties which 
stand in the way : ( i ) The season at which 



Prevent Seeding. 91 

this work is to be done is a busy one ; and 
(2) there is frequently too httle horse labor 
available for the purpose, for the reason 
that too little is kept on the farm. The 
advantages of this method of destroying 
weeds are so very important that it is abso- 
lutely essential that much effort should be 
made to secure them. It may be remarked 
that when catch crops are grown for turn- 
ing under as green manure, the necessary 
plowing after the harvest of tl>e main crop, 
and the plowing under of the green crop 
for manure are much the same as would 
be required as autum.n cultivation for the 
purpose mainly of destroying weeds, while 
if the catch crop has been successful, there 
is an increase in the fertility of the soil by 
the application of the green manure. 

75. Allow no weed seeds to ripen. We 
should never allow noxious weeds to ripen 
their seeds, if it is at all in our power to 
prevent their doing so. When the clean- 
ing of a farm that is foul with weeds is first 
undertaken, it may not always be possible 
to hinder the ripening of the seeds of the 
weeds that infest it, but the ripening may 
usually be very largely prevented by modi- 
fying the rotation for a time. When once 



92 Weeds. 

a farm is fairly well cleaned, then it is sim- 
ply inexcusable to allow noxious weeds — 
at least those which are most troublesome — 
to mature their seeds. To allow them to 
do so is to show an indifference to one's 
best interests which cannot be defended. 

The specific modes of hindering weeds 
from ripening their seeds will of course 
vary with the particular weed, and also with 
the crop in which it grows. Several of 
these specific modes will be described at 
length in the following chapter. 

As was said above, one of the best and 
most reasonable means that can be adopted 
^or preventing weeds from ripening their 
seeds is by a modification of the rotation. 
The correctness of this opinion will at once 
be apparent when we think, first, of the 
unreasonableness of growing a crop a very 
large portion of which consists of weeds, 
while we may just as well grow some other 
crop that will mature at a different season 
and be comparatively free from weeds ; 
and, second, that with some crops, certain 
weeds cannot be prevented from ripening 
in them without the infliction of consider- 
able injury to the crop amid which they 
grow. In any case, however, the hope of 



Grase With Sheep, 93 

having a clean farm is a vain one if noxious 
vv'eeds are allowed to ripen upon it even in 
quantities ever so limited. If any weeds 
are allowed to ripen their seeds, the farm 
will never be wholly clean, notwithstanding 
the fact that the number of weeds may be 
very considerably reduced. 

16. Grase off several crops in succession 
with sheep. There is probably no more 
effective method of fighting weeds, espe- 
cially annuals, than by growing two or three 
crops in succession the same season and 
grazing them down with sheep. To do this 
effectively it is necessary to have two or 
three fields or enclosures, in which there 
can be alternation in production and in graz- 
ing. The following are among the advan- 
tages of this method of attacking weeds : 
Germination is encouraged in the seeds, 
especially in the seeds of annuals that may 
be lying in the soil ; the weeds thus germi- 
nated are eaten by the sheep along with the 
other grazing; a very large quantity of 
grazing relatively may thus be produced 
from a small area of land ; the land is thus 
put in excellent condition for growing the 
grain crops that will follow such grazing. 
Among the crops best adapted to provide 



94 Weeds. 

such grazing are winter rye and other 
small grains, rape, corn, and sorghum. The 
experience of the author in thus fighting 
weeds at the Minnesota experiment station 
was very satisfactory. 

//. Give careful attention to all modes of 
weed distribution and propagation. It 
was stated in Chapter IV that we cannot 
control some of the modes by which weeds 
are distributed, that some of them we can 
but partially control, and that yet others 
are completely under our control. So many 
and so varied are the agencies by which 
weeds come to us, and so many are the 
means by which they are then propagated, 
that- we cannot afford to give small heed to 
any of these agencies and means. It will not 
suffice to concentrate our energies on keep- 
ing weeds at bay in one direction when at 
the same time they come to us in various 
other directions. Such a course would be 
about as wise as to try to keep out the wa- 
ters of a rising tide by closing one breach 
in the embankment while several others are 
left open. When everything has been done 
in this direction, weeds will still come to 
us. When this is so, there is only one 



Make Thorough Work. 95 

resource left to us. This we will now 
describe. 

18. Make thorough work. When the 
eradication of weeds is undertaken, the 
work should be made as complete as pos- 
sible, and be effected in the shortest possi- 
ble time. The cheapness of the process 
is usually in direct porportion to its com- 
pleteness, and to the brevity of the period 
occupied in completing it. It is quite pos- 
sible to destroy creeping perennials in a 
single season, except only as to the seeds 
which remain in the soil. It is the lack 
of thoroughness in the modes usually 
adopted, rather than the modes themselves, 
that renders the destruction of this class 
of weeds so extremely difficult and so 
expensive. As a rule, creeping perennials 
are merely checked by the cleaning • proc- 
esses employed, and by no means destroy- 
ed by them. Hence the root-stocks left 
in the soil at once commence to grow. 
They push out in every direction. They 
are carried to and fro with the plow and 
spring into life everywhere, so that in from 
two to four or five years they have so 
possessed the soil again that a similar proc- 
ess of reducing them will have to be 



96 Weeds. 

undertaken. Whereas, had these weeds 
been completely destroyed in one season, 
and proper means been taken for remov- 
ing those which afterwards came up from 
the seeds that remained in the soil when 
the cleaning process was being accomplish- 
ed, then the cleanliness of the field would 
have been maintained, and at a cost that 
would have been merely nominal as com- 
pared with the cost involved in cleaning 
the field anew. The greatest mistake that 
can be made in the war with weeds is to 
carry it on with a lack of thoroughness, 
when once the war has been undertaken. 
Men clean at fields rather than clean them. 
They reduce weeds, but do not subdue 
them. To make thorough work may seem 
costly at the time, but there is no way of 
getting rid of weeds so cheaply as when 
the work is done in a comparatively short 
time. 

jp. Maintain cleanliness. Where clean- 
liness has once been secured, it should be 
maintained from year to year at all haz- 
ards. To effect this, two things at least 
are required. First, the general manage- 
ment of the farm must be good, so that 
good crops may ordinarily be grown, and 



Maintain Cleanliness. 97 

second, every portion of the farm must be 
gone over once or twice a year with the 
spud, except that part which is devoted to 
hoed crops. The meadows should be gone 
over once or twice, according to the weeds 
that grow in them and the time at which 
the hay is to be cut. If thus gone over 
before the time of haymaking, such weeds 
as dock, the ox-eye daisy, sheep sorrel, and 
plantain, which would otherwise ripen their 
seeds, will be destroyed, as well as any oth- 
er weeds that may be there. After harvest 
.they should be gone over again as often 
as necessary for the purpose of cutting ofif 
the stray thistles or ragweeds, or any oth- 
er kind of weeds that may be trying to 
retain a footing. In the same way, the 
grain crops should be gone over before 
they head. Where these have been sown 
with the drill, this may easily be done with- 
out injury to the crops. If the grain fields 
have also been sown with grass seeds, they 
should be gone over again after harvest ; 
but this will not be necessary when autumn 
cultivation is to follow. Permanent and 
other pastures, fence borders, private 
roads, and waste places should all be gone 
over twice a year with the spud. 



98 Weeds. 

Notwithstanding the great value of the 
spud in maintaining cleanHness on farms, 
it must be used with discrimination. When 
the weeds are numerous beyond a certain 
hmit it will not pay to use the spud. What 
that limit is will depend somewhat upon 
the scarcity of labor, and the difficulty 
experienced in securing it and paying for 
it. It is not possible to fix a limit that will 
apply equally well in every case, but in 
the judgment of the writer, unless the 
spudder can get over from three to five 
acres a day, it is at least an open question 
whether some other mode of reducing 
weeds should not be resorted to instead. 
The spud is designed rather to maintain 
cleanliness than to secure it; although, to 
a considerable extent, it is helpful for the 
latter purpose also. 

The method of procedure in cleaning a 
farm, where the work is to be economical- 
ly done, will be somewhat as follows : 

( I ) The effort must be put forth to pre- 
vent any new seeds from maturing on the 
farm. It may not be possible to secure this 
result at first on all parts of the farm, 
owing to the costliness of the work, and to 
the amount of labor involved in it ; in time, 



Method of Cleaning Farm. 99 

however, where judicious measures have 
been used, the end will be attained with- 
out great difficulty. 

(2) One or two fields should be set 
aside each year to be cleaned, these being 
chosen with reference to the rotation, and 
to the resources of the farmer, and the 
work of cleaning these fields should be 
made as thorough as it would be reasona- 
bly possible to make it in one season. As 
each field is thus freed from noxious 
weeds, cleanliness should be maintamed in 
that field by the use of the spud, until, in 
the order of the rotation, the field will have 
cultivated crops grown upon it, by which 
means the cleaning process will be still 
further carried on. 

(3) The pastures and waste places of 
the farm should, from the commencement 
of the cleaning process, be gone over twice 
a year with the spud. If it happens that in 
these places the weeds are too numerous 
to be dealt with by the spud, the scythe or 
the mower should be used instead. In a 
few seasons, if thus dealt with, these plac- 
es will be quite free from noxious weeds. 
The time occupied in cleaning the farm 
will depend upon the rotation. It should 



loo Weeds. 

be practically free from weeds by the end 
of - the first rotation, counting from the 
beginning of the undertaking. 

Many farmers, however, look upon the 
use of the spud in any way as a chimerical 
idea. They object to it on the score of the 
cost of the labor involved in its use ; while 
the truth, in the mind of the writer at least, 
is beyond the shadow of a doubt that by 
no other conceivable means can freedom 
from noxious weed intrusion be maintain- 
ed so cheaply, or, indeed, be maintained at 
all. The matter stands thus : In ordinary 
practice, the spud is not used. The farmer 
selects a field to be cleaned by the bare fal- 
low or some other process. Fairly good 
work may be done ; but some weeds are 
sure to be left in the soil, while also some 
seeds of weeds lie there which will ger- 
minate and reproduce their kind in abun- 
dance. Unless the field be gone over with 
the spud after the manner we have here 
described, it is entirely probable that in 
from three to five years the field will be as 
foul with weeds as when taken in hand at 
the first. On the other hand, if the spud 
is used in the manner that we have indi^ 



Use of the Spud. loi 

cated, all stray weeds will be cut off before 
they can do any harm. 

The cost of maintaining freedom from 
weed intrusion, where once a state of 
cleanliness has been attained, should not 
be more than $30 or $40 a year for every 
one hundred acres of land. This estimate 
is based on the supposition that all the 
methods of cultivating and managing the 
crops grown upon the hundred acres, are 
as they ought to be. 

With respect to the cost of the weed- 
cleaning process, it may be mentioned here 
that when a state of cleanliness has once 
been secured, the cost of maintaining this 
state of cleanliness by means of the spud 
is the only direct charge to be made, for 
the expense incurred in cleaning crops and 
in destroying weeds by all the other means 
described in these pages should be more 
than met by the increased returns which 
the crops will show by reason of the 
improved cultivation which the weed-clean- 
ing process necessitates. On the assump- 
tion that every part of a one hundred acre 
farm be gone over twice a year to keep 
it free from weeds, and on the further 
reasonable assumption that the cost of 



102 Weeds. 

labor involved in doing this for a day of 
ten hours is from $1.50 to $2.00, the entire 
outlay for the v^hole work would not be 
more than the sum already named, $30 to 
$40. When once a farm has become fair- 
ly clean, a workman should easily be able 
to go over it with a spud at the rate of ten 
acres a day. That this is possible has been 
demonstrated over and over again, in the 
experience of the writer, in the work of 
cleaning the Ontario Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station Farm at Guelph. Ten acres 
have been frequently gone over in half a 
day, and in one instance twenty acres were 
done, but these results grew out of more 
than ordinary efifort and are to be regarded 
as exceptional. One person can, however, 
easily get over ten acres in a day, even 
when some hundreds or even thousands 
of weeds are to be destroyed. Twenty 
days thus employed should take the spud- 
der over the farm twice, hence the cost 
would not be more than the sum named. 
The whole . farm would not, however, 
require to be gone over thus twice a year. 
One field of the farm would probably be 
devoted to a cultivated crop, and would 
not require any spudding. Several fields 



Use of the Spud. 103 

which had produced grain would not 
require to be gone over more than once, 
for the reason that they would be plowed 
or cultivated soon after harvest as a part 
of the ''autumn cultivation," and pastures 
would soon become so clean that one spud- 
ding in a season would suffice for them 
also. Hence the outlay for spudding 
should not be more than $25 a year. 

It is certainly unfortunate that the spud 
is so little known, and so little used in per- 
fecting and maintaining cleanliness upon 
farms. It is well to remember that those 
who are most averse to using the spud 
are usually those who have never used it, 
and that those who have once tried it fair- 
ly are always unwilling thenceforth to 
abandon its use. 

A little reflection v^ill make it clear that 
the spud is of the greatest use in maintain- 
ing cleanliness on a farm. Suppose a ten- 
acre field in which a crop is growing has 
only a few thistles in it — so few, perhaps, 
that the farmer thinks it scarcely worth 
while to do anything with them. But it 
may, at the same time, have some dock 
plants in it, and a few stalks of mustard, 
a small number of ragweeds, and a few 



I04 Weeds. 

other noxious weeds ; while in the 
fence corners there may be some 
burdocks or cockle burs. Now, in 
one day, one person can remove all 
these weeds with the spud. If this 
be done, the thousands and tens of 
thousands of seeds which these 
plants would have produced never 
come into existence, and the future 
infinite supply of these weeds is 
also efifectually checked. A corre- 
sponding saving in the labor that 
would otherwise have been ulti- 
mately required in subduing these 
weeds is also effected. 

It may not be amiss here to de- 
scribe that form of the spud which 
in the estimation of the writer, is 
best adapted to the uses of the 
farmer. The chisel spud as usually 
made, may be described as follows : 
It consists of a light round handle, 
resembling that of a broom, and of 
a blade which is shaped somewhat 
like that of a chisel, but more tap- 
ering from the end of the blade 
to the junction with the handle. Its c'hid 

Spud 



Use of the Spud. 105 

length is about five feet from the upper 
end of the handle to the cutting end of the 
blade. The blade is about eight inches long 
from the cutting end to the shoulder, and 
about two and half inches broad at the cut- 
ting end, and five-eighths of an inch broad 
at the shoulder. The blade should be thin, 
not necessarily more than a quarter of an 
inch at the shoulder, and still thinner as 
the cutting end is approached. The blade 
is fitted into the handle in the same way 
as a common hoe. The implement is very 
light, so that it is in no way burdensome 
to carry. 

In few kinds of labor on the farm are 
quickness and sureness of movement more 
important than in the use of the spud. 
When using the spud in a grain crop, the 
spudder walks astride of a row of grain, 
the feet being placed between the drills, 
so that trampling is avoided. He walks 
along the lines of the drill in which he 
first enters, and cuts below the surface of 
the ground all the noxious weeds that may 
be found within six feet on either side of 
him. A strip is thus taken at one time of 
about twelve feet in width. On the return 



io6 Weeds. 

trip, he walks in the center of an adjoin- 
ing strip of equal width, and proceeds in 
this manner until the whole field is gone 
over. 

The spudder should always carry with 
him a short file, to be used for sharpening 
the spud whenever this may be necessary. 
The frequency of the sharpenings will 
depend on the nature of the soil ; but it is 
greatly important that a good cutting edge 
be constantly kept. The file should never 
be forgotten, especially in stony soils, as 
the spudder never can know how soon he 
may want it. 

Simple as the work may appear, there 
is great opportunity for the exercise of 
dexterity in using the spud. One person 
will so use it in a grain field that very lit- 
tle of the grain will be either trampled upon 
or cut off, whereas another would make 
constant havoc in both these respects. It 
is matter for surprise how large and strong 
a weed root can be severed by the spud 
when it is dexterously used. Burdock 
roots two inches in diameter may be easily 
severed when the spudder is well skilled in 
his work. 



Use of the Bare Fallon;. 107 

MODES OF DOUBTFUL ADVANTAGE. 

Modes of destroying weeds are some- 
times widely practiced of which it may be 
said that, even when all things are consid- 
ered, the benefits arising from them are 
of doubtful character. Two of these will 
now be dealt with, namely, (i) the bare 
fallow; and (2) the fermentation of farm- 
yard or stable manure. Both of these may 
on occasion be made very helpful in the 
work of eradicating weeds, but in the 
opinion of the writer they both are costly 
modes, and they both can usually be dis- 
pensed with. 

I. The bare fallozv. In destroying 
weeds, the bare fallow has rendered good 
service in the past, and where it is properly 
managed it is a very effective mode, espe- 
cially for creeping perennials. 

Since the bare fallow method as usually 
practiced requires the land to lie unused 
during the whole season in "summer fal- 
low" so that a crop cannot be raised the 
same season, it is evident that the method 
is a very expensive one ; in fact, far too 
expensive, when compared with some of 
the other modes of fighting weeds which 
have been previously treated of in this 



io8 Weeds. 

chapter. Where these other and less 
expensive modes are faithfully practiced, 
it will be unnecessary to resort to the bare 
fallow for the purposes of weed destruction. 

When it is thought necessary to resort to 
the bare fallow, let it be in some modified 
form ; that is to say, let some crop be grown 
the same season, before or after the fallow- 
ing is done. When a late crop is grown, as 
one of millet or of rape, during the portion 
of the season prior to the sowing of that 
crop the ground may be fallowed with 
excellent results, both in the destruction of 
the weeds and in the preparation of the soil 
for the crop that is to come after. Simi- 
larly, other crops which mature early in 
the season may be followed by the bare fal- 
low for the rest of the season, and so 
secure nearly all the benefits of the ordi- 
nary bare fallow without the missing of a 
crop. These early-maturing crops include 
rye, winter wheat, and barley. 

In the same way, pastures may be eaten 
ofif until some time in June, and then be 
plowed and worked on the surface, with 
great injury to the weeds, until it is time 
to sow winter wheat. The same course 
may be adopted with early-cut meadows, 



Use of the Bare Fallow. 109 

with almost equally good results. Where 
winter wheat is not grown, the length of 
the season left for working this sort of fal- 
low is much increased, and such a bare fal- 
low, coming after any of the crops above 
mentioned, will be very effective in 
destroying weeds. It should be remarked 
that this mode of fallowing so nearly 
resembles what has been previously 
described as "autumn cultivation" that it 
may better be referred to by that designa- 
tion. 

The costliness of the bare fallow does 
not all arise from the fact that a great 
amount of labor is expended without get- 
ting a crop the same season; especially in 
seasons when much rain falls, there is also 
a serious loss incurred from nitrates leach- 
ing out of the soil — a loss which would 
be almost entirely prevented if a crop were 
grown upon the land. Inasmuch as the 
bare fallow reduces the humus in the soil, 
the soil becomes more compact in conse- 
quence. The bare fallow entails, therefore, 
(i) the loss of a crop; (2) a certain loss 
of fertility by reason of the leaching out 
of nitrates; and (3) increased impaction of 
the soil. It is obvious, then, that in our 



i lo . Weeds. 

fight with weeds we should resort to the 
bare fallow only in cases of extreme neces- 
sity. 

Where the bare fallow is resorted to as 
a means of destroying weeds, the work 
should be done most thoroughly, especi- 
ally so far as creeping perennials are con- 
cerned. Where these are only partially 
destroyed, the residue remaining in the soil 
are given most favorable conditions for 
lateral root extension, and hence for future 
multiplication. 

In the opinion of the writer, the fallow- 
ing process should, whenever possible, be 
accompanied by the growing of green crops 
for the purpose of enriching the soil while 
the process of fallowing is going on. For 
instance, a crop of rye may be sown in the 
autumn and plowed under the following 
spring; this may at once be followed by a 
crop of peas, buckwheat, rape or some 
other quick-growing crop, which in turn 
may be plowed under. The weeds will be 
greatly reduced by this modification of the 
bare fallow, and the land will at the same 
time be much improved in fertility and in 
its mechanical texture. 



Fermenting Manure. iii 

2. Fermenting manure. Where farm- 
yard or stable manure is fermented, the 
process may render substantial service in 
destroying the germinating powers of the 
weed seeds found in it, but the price paid 
is probably too costly. Manure cannot be 
sufficiently fermented to destroy the seeds 
of weeds present in it, except with the 
result of the removal of much of its most 
useful properties, more especially of the 
nitrogen, its most valuable constituent. 
The reduction of manure in the soil where 
it is to remain is attended with so many 
advantages of a mechanical and chemical 
nature that, whenever practicable, the 
reducing process should always be effected 
there, rather than in the farmyard, or in 
wasting heaps in the field. 

Fermenting manure, therefore, with the 
object of destroying weeds, should never 
be resorted to unless the seeds of some 
especially troublesome sorts are known to 
be present in it in unusually large quanti- 
ties. As a rule it is not necessary to resort 
to the process at all, for if the modes of 
fighting weeds that "have been already 
pointed out are faithfully practiced, the 
seeds that will at length be found in the 



112 Weeds, 

manure will be reduced to an insignificant 
quantity. In this connection it is well to 
remark that on account of the danger there 
is of bringing weed seeds to farms where 
purchased stable manure is used, it may be 
more judicious, where increased fertility 
is desired, to purchase artificial fertilizers 
rather than stable manure. 



CHAPTER VI. 

SPECIFIC MODES OF ERADICATING WEEDS OF 
THE THISTLE FAMILY. 

This chapter and those which follow deal 
with specific modes of destroying certain 
kinds of weeds which infest the northern 
part of the United States. Most of these 
weeds are also troublesome in Canada. 
Some are local in their distribution, while 
others are found in greater or less numbers 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. While 
the general methods of weed destruction 
described in the previous chapter are as a 
rule equally applicable to all weeds, the 
specific modes described in this and the 
following chapters are especially helpful 
when applied to the weeds for which they 
are intended. 

. It should be remembered, however, that 
the modes described here as especially 
applicable to certain weeds will also apply 
to all other weeds not specifically men- 



114 Weeds. 

tioned which may closely resemble these 
in their habits of growth. 

The weeds which are discussed in this 
chapter are all included in the thistle or 
sunflower family. This is the largest fam- 
ily of flowering plants, including some ten 
or twelve thousand species in all parts of 
the world. The individual flowers are 
usually small and inconspicuous. They are 
arranged together in considerable numbers 
in heads at tlie ends of the stalks. These 
heads are quite commonly regarded as 
single flowers, as those of the daisy, the 
dandelion, or the thistle, but in reality they 
are made up of a very large number of 
minute flowers. The family includes many 
of our most valuable economic and medic- 
inal plants, as well as many of our worst 
weeds. 

The six weeds here discussed are among 
the most troublesome to the farmer. They 
are the Canada thistle, the perennial sozv 
thistle, the ox-eye daisy, the hnrdock, the 
ragweed, and the ivild lettnee. The spe- 
cific modes here described of dealing with 
these weeds and those which are discussed 
in the chapters which follow are nearly all 
based on the actual experience of the 



Description of the Canada Thistle. 115 

writer; hence they are submitted with a 
degree of confidence which could not be 
felt were they based merely on theories, 
however correct these theories might be. 

An outline sketch is given of each of the 
weeds dealt with. This sketch was in 
every case prepared from living specimens 
of the weed illustrated. The root develop- 
ment of each plant is shown, as well as that 
of the portion above ground. In the work 
of exterminating weeds, a knowledge of 
their habits of root growth is frequently 
of quite as much importance as a knowl- 
edge of the growth habits of the portions 
of the plant ordinarily visible to the eye. 

' (l) THE CANADA THISTLE. 

The Canada thistle (Carduus arvensis) 
is a creeping perennial which grows from 
one to four feet high, according as soils 
and seasons vary. It is of an upright habit 
of growth, somewhat branched towards 
the top, especially when it is not much 
crowded, but when it is pressed for room 
it has but a single stem. Its leaves are 
armed with sharp prickles, which, either 
when green or dry, but more especially 
when dry, are exceedingly unpleasant^ to 
handle. Its blossoms are of a beautiful 
crimson, and have a pleasing fragrance. 



ii6 Weeds. 

The Canada thistle comes up early in 
May, and continues to grow until the time 
of severe frost in autumn. It comes into 
blossom in July and August, and matures 
its seeds principally in the latter month, 
but sometimes also in the former. When 
cut off above or just a little below the sur- 
face of the ground, it will at once put forth 
sprouts below the point of excision, several 
sprouts thus coming up around the parent 
stem. 

The Canada thistle will grow in almost 
all kinds of soils, but it does not find a con- 
genial home in mucks with moist bottoms. 
It grows in all kinds of crops' that are pro- 
duced in this country. Its seeds ripen with 
those of all the cereals, several of the clo- 
vers, and timothy and some other grasses. 

The Canada thistle is propagated by 
means both of its seeds and of its creeping 
root-stocks, but more especially by means 
of the latteft Its root-stocks penetrate the 
soil in every direction, and in open soils to 
distances that are almost incredible. These 
root-stocks bear numerous latent buds, 
which, as soon as the root-stocks become 
broken, at once start to grow, even under 



Description of the Canada Thistle. 117 

the least favorable conditions. Its seeds 
are not only carried incredible distances by 
the wind, but they are also distributed 
everywhere by means of the seeds of all 
kinds of cereal grains and of several of the 




THE CANADA THISTLE. 



clovers and grasses, among which they 
ripen. They are also distributed by means 
of manure. 



ii8 Weeds, 

Modes of Eradication. 

The following are some of the most 
effective modes of dealing with this most 
pernicious weed: 

1. Modifying the rotation. Until the 
fields infested with the thistle can be spe- 
cifically dealt with by one of the modes 
described below, drop out of the rotation, 
so far as practicable, all crops which will 
allow the thistle seeds to ripen before they 
can be cut. 

2. Autumn plozving and spring cultiva- 
tion, foUozved by corn or some other cidti- 
vated crop. . Plow the land immediately 
after harvest. Plow shallow with any kind 
of plow that will cut the thistles off clean 
ivithoiit breaking up the creeping root- 
stocks. Keep the thistles from showing 
above ground until the late autumn plow- 
ing, which should be deep for the sake of 
the crop that is to come after. In the 
spring, keep the thistles under by the use 
of a suitable cultivator until the time for 
planting the cultivated crop. Give this 
crop sufficient cultivation to insure a good 
yield, and take pains to keep the thistles 
that spring up in the line of the rows cut 



Eradication of the Canada Thistle. 119 

off by hand hoeing. Go over the crop with 
the hand hoe, if necessary, once or twice 
after the horse cultivation has ceased ; and, 
if the work up to this point has been wel) 
done, tliere should not be one thistle left, 
provided the season has been a dry one. 
The most effective part of the work, how- 
ever, will have been done the preceding 
autumn. 

J. August ploiving, folloivcd by zvintcr 
rye cut early, and this again by a cultivated 
crop. Plow the ground deeply in August, 
as early in the month as practicable. Sow 
rye early in September at the rate of two 
and one-half to three bushels per acre. Cut 
the rye the following spring, as soon as 
it is headed out, for soiling or for winter 
fodder. Then plow the ground deeply with 
any kind of plow that will effectively bury 
the stubble, and harrow at once to conserve 
the moisture. Plarrow once a week until 
it is time to drill the ground for rape or 
some other quick-growing cultivated crop. 
Then cultivate and care for the crop as 
described in section 2 above. In the experi- 
ence of the writer, this mode of destroying 
the Canada thistle has proved very effec- 
tive, but it is not well suited to stiff soils 



I20 Weeds. 

which will not readily grow cultivated 
crops. 

Another way is to sow the rye in 
August, and then pasture it both autumn 
and spring, before the ground is plowed 
for the following crop. This mode is not 
quite so effective as the one just described, 
inasmuch as the rye when pastured does 
not so effectually weaken the thistles by 
smothering them as when it is grown for 
fodder or for the silo. 

On the Ontario Agricultural College 
Experiment Station farm at Guelph, this- 
tle-infested fields have been so effectively 
cleaned by the mode of treatment recom- 
mended here that in the following year one 
person could go over twenty acres in from 
ten to fifteen hours, and remove with a 
spud all the noxious weeds found in the 
grain crop which followed the rape. 

4. Breaking up pasture land or meadozv 
and sowing to fall zvheat and clover. Plow 
pasture land in June, or plow land from 
which a crop of hay has been removed, as 
soon as possible after the crop has been 
harvested. Work the plowed ground upon 
the surface, so that all thistles will be kept 
under until the time arrives for sowing 



Eradication of the Canada Thistle. 121 

winter wheat. In the spring, sow clover 
in the wheat crop, and after one, two, or 
three crops of clover have been grown 
repeat the same rotation. This method is 
applicable to stifif soils where winter wheat 
is a leading crop, and is especially success- 
ful where the land first broken up was 
clover sod. In localities where winter 
wheat will not grow, substitute for the win- 
ter wheat either spring wheat or barley, 
as may be desired. There will then be 
ample time for autumn cuhivation after the 
sod land has been broken up ; if this time is 
well employed, a great gain in the conflict 
with the thistles will have been effected. 

5. Smothering by a clover crop, with a 
cultivated crop follozuing. Where land has 
been sown to clover, cut the crop twice for 
hay, or once for hay and once for seed. 
Then follow with a properly cultivated 
corn or root crop. The smothering influ- 
ence of the two growths of clover, com- 
bined with the effect of the two cuttings 
necessitated, will be found of much service 
in weakening the thistles. 

6. Using the spud. When the thistles 
have been well brought under, they should 
be kept under by the use of the spud. The 



122 Weeds. 

grain fields should be gone over before 
harvest to prevent the thistles from blos- 
soming, and the meadows and fields sown 
with grasses should be similarly dealt with 
after harvest. To spud thistles before their 
blossoming season will not in itself be 
found of much service in destroying them ; 
but when they are cut with the spud an 
inch or more below the surface of the soil 
at that stage of their development, and are 
again cut in the same way later on, the 
effects as regards their destruction are very 
beneficial. In the experience of the writer, 
when thistles have been thus cut two or 
three times a year, they have been found 
to disappear entirely from pastures, fence 
borders, lanes, and waste-places generally. 

7. Removing thistles from permanent 
pastures. In removing thistles from per- 
manent pastures, our mode of procedure 
must be governed largely by the character 
of the soil and subsoil. In stiff clays, two 
or three mowings a year for as many years 
will cause them to disappear, but on lands 
with open subsoils the spud will also have 
to be resorted to. 

Observation. The facts relating to an 
experiment in removing Canada thistles 



Eradication of the Canada Thistle. 123 

and other noxious weeds from a perma- 
nent pasture in the Ontario Agricultural 
College Experiment Station farm at 
Guelph may prove interesting. The field 
contained twenty acres, and had been for 
several years in permanent pasture, and 
was badly smitten. The experiment com- 
menced in the summer of 1889, and the 
work was superintended by the writer, who 
also took part in it. The facts, as given 
in the annual report of the station for 1891, 
p. 50, are as follows: "The first spudding 
in 1889 took fully 100 hours of one per- 
son. The second spudding took 80 hours. 
In 1890 the first spudding was done on July 
9th and 10th, and took 40 hours. The sec- 
ond spudding was done from August 26th 
to September 7th, and took ^2 hours. In 
1 89 1 the first spudding was done on July 
1 8th, and took 7 hours. The second spud- 
ding was done on about the last day of 
September, and took 6 hours. The cost of 
cleaning the field — for it is now clean — was 
$22.50 in 1889, $9.00 in 1890, and $i.62>'2 
in 1891 ; or a total, for the three years, of 
$33.i2j^ for the 20 acres. The labor was 
valued at $1.25 per day of 10 hours, with- 
out board." The annual cost of maintain- 



124 Weeds. 

ing cleanliness in this field, so long as it 
remains a pasture, should not be more 
than $2.50. 

(2) THE SOW THISTLE. 

There are several varieties of the sow 
thistle, but some of them do not give much 
trouble to the cultivator of the soil, and 
it will be sufficient for our purpose here to 
speak only of the variety known as the 
perennial or corn sow thistle (Sonchiis 
arveiisis), as it is the only form of tliis weed 
which is very difficult to eradicate. The 
corn sow thistle is a creeping perennial, 
while nearly all the other varieties of the 
sow thistle are annuals. The plant has an 
upright habit of growth, and grows from 
one to three feet high, but when th@ soil 
is quite congenial it sometimes reaches a 
greater height. Like the Canada thistle, 
the perennial sow thistle is somewhat 
branched towards the top. Its stems are 
rather hairy or bristly, especially its flower 
stems ; they are hollow, and when bruised 
a milky fluid exudes from them. The 
prickles upon its leaves are harmless. Its 
blossoms are yellow, and the plants are 
great producers of seed. 



Description of the Sow Thistle. 125 

The perennial sow thistle makes its 
appearance in May, and continues to grow 
until the autumn. It blossoms in July, 
and ripens its seeds in July and August. 
It will grow in any kind of soil, but it is 




THE PERENNIAL SOW THISTLE 

most at home in rich moist loams, and 
gives least trouble in stiff clays. 

The perennial sow thistle, like the Can- 
ada thistle, infests all kinds of crops, and 
it ripens its seeds somewhat earlier than, 
or simultaneously with, the crops amid 
which it grows; the only crops of which 



126 Weeds. 

this statement is not true being, probably, 
red clover and alfalfa. 

It is propagated by means of its seeds, 
which are able to float about in the air by 
reason of the downy attachment which 
they possess. As its seeds are very numer- 
ous, its numbers increase very rapidly in 
the neighborhood of any place where once 
they are allowed to ripen. It is an open 
question if they have the power of sus- 
taining a long flight, like the seeds of the 
Canada thistle.' The perennial sow thistle 
is also propagated with much rapidity by 
means of its root-stocks, which are numer- 
ous and which, like those of the Canada 
thistle, are "creepers" bearing a very large 
number of latent buds, as is show^n in the 
sketch. Its seeds, like those of the Can- 
ada thistle, are constantly being widely 
distributed by being carried about with the 
seeds of cereals, clovers, and grasses. 

Modes of Eradication. 

The means to be taken for destroying 
this intruder are essentially the same as 
those "described for the eradication of the 
Canada thistle, and therefore need not be 
repeated here. 



Description of the Ox-eye Daisy. 127 

(3) THE OX-EYE DAIS/. 

The ox-eye daisy (Chrysanthemum leii- 
canthemum) is a simple perennial with a 
branching habit of growth. It grows from 
one to two feet high, according to soil and 
crop conditions, but usually it does not grow 
much more than one foot in height. It pro- 
duces large flowers, consisting of a yellow 
disc bordered with white rays. The fan- 
cied resemblance of the disc in the center 
to the eye of an ox has probably given rise 
to the name. The flowers, sometimes called 
*' Marguerites," have been much in favor for 
bouquets during recent years. The plant, 
however, is none the less a pestilent weed. 
It is a great producer of seed. 

The ox-eye daisy is very hardy. It can 
resist in a marked degree the influences of 
heat, cold, and drought. It commences to 
blossom in May or June, according to the 
locality, and under some conditions it will 
continue to blossom as late as September. 
The seeds have, in an uncommon degree, 
the power of maturing on the stalk, even 
when the stalks have been pulled out of the 
ground or cut off from their roots before 
the seeds are quite ripe, and they also pos- 



128 Weeds. 

sess great vitality. Although the plants 
may appear but singly at first, yet if they 
are allowed to ripen their seeds, these fall 
to the ground and grow up again so thickly 
that to eradicate the weed by spudding is 
almost impossible. Hence, in pastures and 
waste places where cultivation cannot be 
introduced, the ox-eye daisy is an extremely 
difficult weed to deal with. It is not relished 
by live stock, owing in part to the woody 
nature of its growth, but they will browse 
on it to some extent when it is young. 

The ox-eye daisy grows in all soils, but 
is most vigorous and troublesome in those 
of loose texture. It infests all kinds of 
crops, and it also grows where the land is 
not cultivated, as in permanent pastures, 
and in waste places generally. It is most 
difficult of eradication in permanent pas- 
tures and meadows, more especially as these 
grow older, since the roots of the daisies 
then become much interlaced with those of 
the crops amid which they grow. It is least 
troublesome in cultivated crops, and these 
are very effective in destroying it. 

This weed is distributed entirely by 
means of its seed. It is most commonly 
carried about in the seeds of timothy and 



Description of the Ox-eye Daisy. 129 

some kinds of clover, but it is also distrib- 
uted through the agency of the cereal 




THE OX-EYE DAISY. 



grains. It is often taken from field to field 
on the farm in the manure, and is also car- 
ried about to some extent by birds. 



130 Weeds. 

Modes of Eradication. 

The following are the modes of eradica- 
tion that have been found most successful 
in dealing with the ox-eye daisy: 

1. Modifying the rotation. Drop meadow 
out of the rotation until the infested fields 
have been dealt with. 

2. August plozving, followed by winter 
rye cut early ^ and this again by a cultivated 
crop. Grow a crop of rye followed by a 
cultivated crop, as described in section 3 
above, where we treated of the methods of 
destroying the Canada thistle. The plow- 
ing in June will turn under the daisies that 
may have been in the rye, and the stirring 
of the soil necessary to the cultivation of 
the crop will be favorable to the germina- 
tion of the seeds of the weed that may be 
lying in the soil dormant. 

5. Plowing up meadozv land and plant- 
ing to a cultivated crop. In the case of 
meadow land which is infested with the 
weed, pasture it until the middle of June ; 
then plow it deeply and plant to some culti- 
vated crop, taking pains to cultivate it with 
sufficient care. The daisies are thus turned 
under before they have had an opportunity 



Eradication of the Ox-eye Daisy. 131 

to ripen their seeds. It may be necessary to 
grow a crop of corn or of roots the follow- 
ing year in order to complete the work. 

4. After-harvest and autumn cultivation, 
followed by spring cultivation and a cul- 
tivated crop. Plow the infested field lightly 
after harvest, and then again deeply just 
before winter. In the interval give the 
soil one or more harrowings to induce the 
daisy seeds to germinate. In the spring, 
follow this preparation with a cultivated 
crop, and this, if necessary, next year, by 
another cultivated crop. 

5. Sowing to rye for pasture or hay, 
following by millet, or bare fallow and 
winter wheat. Sow the infested field with 
rye, and pasture the rye until June, or cut 
it for hay. Follow the rye with a crop of 
millet; or, if thought best, work the 
ground on the bare fallow system until 
winter wheat may be sown in September. 
Where it may not be desired to grow win- 
ter wheat, the occasional stirring of the 
soil should be continued until the close of 
the season, that the weed seeds lying in the 
soil may be made to germinate. Then 
next season some kind of spring cereal may 
be grown. 



132 Weeds. 

6. Gvozving a cultivated crop and fol- 
lowing by a grain crop sozvn to ineadozu. 
If a cultivated crop is grown with a view 
to the destruction of the weed, then it 
should be followed by a grain crop, which 
should also be sown with clover, or clover 
and grass. The grain crop should then be 
gone over with the spud, and any daisies 
found in it be cut oif. Spudding will prob- 
ably be necessary in the meadow which fol- 
lows the grain crop, more especially during 
the first year of its growth. The best time 
for spudding the ox-eye daisy .is when it 
is in blossom, as at that time the weeds are 
very easily seen. 

When spudding the ox-eye daisy, it may 
sometimes be necessary to catch the plant 
with the hand and strike it over the spud 
handle to free the adherent earth from the 
fibrous roots of the weed which have been 
cut off with it. 

7. In permanent pastures, etc. Wher- 
ever practicable pasture-lands that are 
infested with ox-eye daisy should be broken 
up and dealt wnth in one or other of the 
methods described above. In pasture- 
lands which cannot be cultivated and there- 
fore must remain permanent, along fence 



i 



Description of the Burdock. 133 

borders, on the sides of roads, and in waste 
places generally, it is difficult indeed to 
deal with this pest. Any plan that will 
prevent it from maturing its seeds will in 
time prove effectual, but several years will 
probably elapse before the weed will be 
fully banished from such places. 

(4) THE BURDOCK. 

The burdock (Arctium lappa) is so well 
known and so easily managed, if the work 
of destroying it is gone about properly, 
that it would seem almost superfluous to 
write about the modes that will prove effect- 
ive for its extermination, yet there is no 
denying the fact that the burdock is one 
of the most general of the weed abomina- 
tions which disgrace the farms of today. 
It is a biennial, the leaves of which are 
very large even in the early stages of the 
growth of the -plant. Its seed is borne on 
a branched stem, which pushes up from 
amid the center of the leaves to a height 
of from two to five feet. The first year 
of its growth, the burdock, being a bien- 
nial, does not produce any seeds, but in the 
second year it produces them in immense 
numbers. The seeds are matured in 



V 



134 



Weeds. 



enclosures at the end of the branches of 
the stems. The seed sacs, circular in 
shape, are so armed with hooks that they 
adhere to almost everything with which 
they come in contact. Hence we find them 




THE BURDOCK. 

The large plant in the sketch represents the burdock in the dead 

state, after it has perfected its growth. 

clinging in large numbers to the hair of 
horses and cattle that pasture where they 
grow, and also to the wool of sheep, which 
they oftentimes render practically valueless. 



i 



Description of the Burdock. 135 

The burdock sends a strong tap root 
down into the soil wherever the natural or 
artificial drainage is good, hence it does not 
suffer readily from dry weather. The root 
as shown in the sketch is broken off. The 
burdock comes into flower chiefly in the 
months of June and July, but more espe- 
cially in the latter month. If cut off above 
the crown, even after the seed pods are 
formed, young shoots will be thrown up 
around the parent stem, and seed be 
matured sometimes within a few inches of 
the surface of the ground, and even many 
weeks after the harvest season is over. 
It is forgetfulness of this fact, more than 
anything else, which allows this plant so 
long to retain its hold in our fields. 

The burdock will grow in nearly all soils 
that are free from ground water. No other 
weed, perhaps, is found in so many of the 
provinces and states of our continent. It 
is pre-eminently the weed of the outlying 
and neglected portions of cities, towns and 
villages, and it is much prone to intrench 
itself along the fence borders and in the 
waste places of the farm, but it does not 
give much trouble where the soil is well 
cultivated. 



136 Weeds. 

The burdock is propagated solely by 
means of its seed, which is possessed of 
much vitahty. It is very generally distrib- 
uted through the agency of domestic ani- 
mals, to the hair and wool of which its 
seeds most readily adhere. If a burdock 
plant is left undisturbed, so that its seeds 
ripen upon its stems, it sheds them upon 
ttie ground about it, and there they will 
continue to give trouble for years after. 

Mode's of Eradication. 

The following are the modes of eradica- 
tion that have been found most successful 
in dealing with the burdock: 

I. In cidtivated fields. Where the bur- 
dock is found in cultivated fields, it will of 
course be cut off with the hay or grain 
amid which it grows. When thus cut 
during the first year of its growth, the 
plant is but little injured, and when mowed 
off during the second year it at once pushes 
up fresh stems and ripens its seeds in great 
numbers, as already mentioned. Although 
the farmer may not notice this, the ripened 
burs will not fail to find lodgment in the 
hair of his cattle and the wool of his sheep 
when they feed upon the aftermath or 



Description of Wild Lettuce. 137 

gleanings. The only way to prevent this 
late ripening of the seeds is to go over the 
fields once or twice after the harvest is 
over, and cut off with the spud all plants 
that seem likely to produce seed that season. 
2. In permanent pastures, waste places, 
lanes, etc. In permanent pastures, and along 
fences, in lanes, and around the corners of 
farm buildings, and in the borders of wood- 
lands, the plants must be destroyed by the 
use of the spud. In cutting them, however, 
great care must be taken to strike them 
below the crown. If this be done the plants 
will die, no matter what their previous 
growth may have been. The spudding may 
be done at any time of the year when the 
ground is not frozen, but during the second 
year the cutting must, of course, take place 
before the plants form their seeds. A few 
years "of this persistent spudding will soon 
get to the last of them. Farmers who go 
over their fields twice a year with the spud 
will not long be troubled with burdocks. 

(5) WILD LETTUCE. 

The various species of wild lettuce {Lac- 
tuca virosa, Lactiica scariola, and related 
species) are annuals or biennials. The 



138 " Weeds. 

most troublesome of them (L. virosa) 
appears first to have obtained a foothold on 
this continent in the Atlantic states, but 
has traveled westward at a rapid rate. It 
is now common in many sections of the 
United States. The branches are numerous, 
and on good soils strong plants will attain 
the height of from 5 to 6 feet, but on ordi- 
nary soils the average height will not be 
more than 3 feet. The blossoms are a pale 
yellow, and a vigorous plant is capable of 
bearing from 8,000 to 10,000 seeds. The 
seeds are provided with a downy attach- 
ment which enables them to float in the air, 
hence they may be carried by the winds to 
almost any distance. 

Wild lettuce comes up early rather than 
late in the season. It matures its seeds in 
midsummer. If the plants are cut out 
before they have reached the blooming stage 
they will at once send up other branches 
which in turn will produce seeds. Horses 
and cattle will crop it off to some extent in 
pasture, but they are not fond of it. 

Wild lettuce will grow on various soils, 
but rich loams sustain it in best form. It 
does not give much trouble in grain crops 
or cultivated crops, but grows freely in 



Description of Wild Lettuce. 139 




WILD LETTUCE. 



I40 Weeds. 

meadows and pastures, on road sides, along 
fence borders and in other waste places. 

Wind is the principal agent in distribut- 
ing the seeds of wild lettuce, but the seeds 
may also be distributed along with those- of 
clover and some of the grasses. 

Modes of Eradication. 

The following are the modes of eradi- 
cation that have been found most success- 
ful in dealing with wild lettuce : 

1. Modifying the rotation. Drop meadow 
and pasture out of the rotation for a time 
and grow cultivated crops. This will only 
be necessary with fields infested with the 
weed. 

2. Mozving and spudding. Cut the 
plants off with the scythe or mower with 
sufficient frequency to prevent them from 
maturing seeds. When they are not numer- 
ous they may be easily destroyed by cut- 
ting them off with the spud an inch or two 
below the surface of the earth. 

Observations, (i) Wild lettuce is not 
difficult of eradication where care is taken 
to prevent the maturing of the seeds. (2) 
Farms cannot be kept free from it in an 



Description of Ragweed and Kinghead. 141 

infested neighborhood, without concen- 
trated action on the part of the farmers. 

(6) RAGWEED. 

Ragweed (Ambrosia art emisice folia) and 
kinghead {Ambrosia triUda) are annual 
plants, with slender, much-branched stems. 
There are several varieties of ragweed, but 
the variety represented in the sketch and 
the one known as kinghead are by far the 
most troublesome ones. Ragweed more 
commonly grows to the height of from 
fifteen to twenty-one inches, though in 
some soils it will, under favorable conditions, 
grow to the height of four feet. King- 
head is usually more vigorous, growing 
from three to six feet high. The blossoms 
have a yellowish tinge, but the contrast in 
color between them and the leaves is not 
marked. The seeds are small and helmet- 
shaped, and when ripe are of a dark hue. 
They are produced on the lower portions 
of the flower-bearing parts of the branches, 
and are very numerous. They are so light 
that they float readily in water, and they 
are possessed of great vitality. 

These weeds usually do not develop 
until late in the season ; they sometimes do 



142 Weeds. 




COMMON RAGWEED. 



Description of Ragweed and Kinghedd. 143 

not ripen their seeds in grain crops before 
these are harvested, or in meadows before 
the time of cutting. In the stubbles of 
these crops, if not disturbed, they continue 
to grow until late in the season. The blos- 
soms and seeds are produced from July 
till frost, the precise time of blossoming 
varying with the attendant conditions of 
growth. 

These weeds will grow in all soils that 
are free from stagnant water, but they 
very much prefer friable or loamy soils 
that contain a large proportion of humus. 
They revel in black loams and muck soils 
that have been well drained, but do not 
make much headway in stiff clays, except 
in depressions and valleys, or along water 
furrows and watercourses. 

While ragweed will grow in all kinds of 
crops, it does not usually mature its seeds 
in grain crops, nor does it mature them in 
the first cutting for the season- in a clover 
meadow. In rich soils, as in the Red River 
Valley, the rank growth of these weeds in 
grain fields makes them' serious pests. In 
all kinds of stubble they push on rapidly 
after the crop has been removed, and if 
not disturbed, produce an enormous crop 



144 



Weeds. 




KINGHEAD OR GREAT RAGWEED. 



Description of Ragweed and Kinghead. 145 

of seeds before the season closes; and in 
cultivated crops, as corn or roots, they will 
also produce seed abundantly if due atten- 
tion is not given to cultivation late in the 
season. 

Ragweed and kinghead are distributed in 
the seeds of all the late-maturing cereals, 
and in the seed of mammoth and alsike 
clover, and of timothy. Ragweed is most 
commonly distributed in the seed of com^ 
mon red clover, for the reason that by 
the time the clover crop is harvested for 
thrashing a large proportion of the seeds 
of the ragweed growing in it have also 
ripened. It is in the seed of common red 
clover that ragweed- is usually carried to 
new centers. The seeds of these weeds 
are also distributed by the excrement of 
animals, by clover hullers and by birds. 
In localities where these weeds once get a 
foothold, no agent is so potent in effecting 
their distribution as water. In low-lying 
level lands, their distribution soon becomes 
as wide as the range of the water which 
overflows them. The water in its subsi- 
dence leaves the seeds scattered every- 
where over the soil. It is impossible, 
therefore, to keep entirely free from these 



146 Weeds. 

weeds those parts of a farm which are sub- 
jected to a periodical overflow of water 
coming down from lands where they 
abound. The most that can be done, under 
such circumstances, is to keep them cut 
down as they spring up, so that they can- 
not mature their seeds. 

Modes of Eradication. 

The following are the modes of eradica- 
tion that have been found most successful 
in dealing with ragweed and kinghead. 

J. Modifying the rotation and autumn 
cultivation. Modify the rotation, and give 
special attention to autumn cultivation. 
Happily, the rotation will not require seri- 
ous modification where careful attention is 
given to the working of the soil in autumn, 
but late-ripening cereals should not be 
grown in the meantime, nor should timothy 
nor any of the forms of clover be allowed 
to produce a seed crop in the infested fields 
until the ragweed is much reduced. As 
soon as the cereal crops are harvested, the 
ground should be plowed -or disked. It 
may then be occasionally stirred until the 
late plowing that is given on the approach 
of winter. Autumn cultivation is peculiarly 



Eradication of Ragweed and Kinghead. 147 

helpful in destroying these weeds, for the 
reason that the plants grow late, rather 
than early, in the season. 

2. Growing cultivated crops. Grow cul- 
tivated crops, taking special care that the 
cultivation is carried on well through the 
season. 

J. Using the moiver. When fields are 
newly sown to grass, the use of the mower 
in the autumn will be found very effective. 
The mowing should be done as close to the 
surface of the ground as possible, for the 
reason that the seeds of the ragweed are 
often formed low down on the stem, and of 
course it should be done before any of the 
seeds ripen. Pastures and meadows may 
be treated in the same way. 

4. Spraying. Ragweed or kinghead in 
fields of small grain may be killed or mate- 
rially checked by spraying with any of the 
materials recommended in the following 
chapter, if applied when the plants are 
about six inches high. 

Observations, (i) When infested mead- 
ows or pastures are to be broken up, the 
work should be done, wherever practicable, 
before any of the seeds of the weed have 
had opportunity to ripen. (2) When the 



148 Weeds. 

plants are well reduced, hand spudding will 
soon effect the extermination of this weed, 
but if its seeds have been allowed to become 
numerous in the soil, several years will nec- 
essarily elapse before the work of eradica- 
tion can be completely effected. (3) Sheet) 
may be made to render substantial service 
in reducing the prevalence of this weed, 
more especially if they be allowed to feed 
upon it during the earlier stages of its 
growth. 



^A> ...i:- .r. 



CHAPTER VII. 

METHODS OF ERADICATING WEEDS OF THE 
MUSTARD FAMILY. 

The mustard family contains a large 
number of troublesome weeds, such as wild 
mustard, false flax, French weed or penny- 
cress, peppergrass, shepherd's purse, and 
wild radish, as well as some of our common 
garden vegetables, as the cabbage, cauli- 
flower and turnip. The plants of this fam- 
ily may be recognized by the shape of the 
flowers, as the parts are in fours in oppo- 
site pairs, forming a cross. The flowers, 
which are usually white or yellow, are 
borne on stems (foot-stalks) which usually 
arise from a cluster of leaves at the base. 
They are closely clustered at the ends of 
the branches, which gradually lengthen into 
long racemes, with all stages from the 
unopened flower buds above to ripe seeds 
at the base. The leaves and stems usually 
have a decided odor when crushed. Most 
of the plants of this family are annuals or 



150 Weeds. 

winter annuals, though a few are biennials 
and perennials. 

The weeds included in this family usually 
occur in grain fields, gardens, lawns and 
thin meadows. As they grow rapidly and 
ripen their seeds with the grain, they are 
difficult to combat by ordinary means in 
sections where small grains are grown con- 
tinuously on the same land for a period of 
years. Where winter wheat and other 
winter grains are grown, many of the mus- 
tard-like weeds grow as winter annuals, 
developing a rosette of root-leaves in the 
fall, and starting into bloom and the matur- 
ing of seeds very early the following spring. 
As most of the weeds of this family are 
annuals, they are easily killed by cultiva- 
tion when small and give little trouble where 
a good rotation is practiced, with the fre- 
quent introduction of crops which require 
frequent cultivation. Naturally, as with 
other annuals, preventing the plants from 
seeding is effective, but as the seeds of 
most of the plants of this family have an 
oily or mucilaginous covering which effect- 
ually prevents decay, they maintain their 
vitality in the soil for many years, and if 



Eradication of Mustard. 151 

once allowed to ripen a crop of seeds will 
give trouble for a long time thereafter. 

The habits of growth of most of the 
weeds of this family are quite similar, so 
that a method which is effective in eradi- 
cating one of them is usually equally so in 
keeping others in check. For that reason, 
the methods which are generally applicable 
will be first discussed, followed by brief 
descriptions of wild mustard, false flax, 
French weed and tumbling mustard, the 
members of this group which are most fre- 
quently troublesome. 

Among the methods which may be used 
in eradicating weeds of the mustard family 
may be mentioned sowing clean seed, har- 
rowing spring grain, maintaining a regular 
rotation, fall cultivation of stubble fields, 
growing cultivated crops, bare fallow, hand 
pulling and spraying. To obtain the best 
results from these methods, it is sometimes 
wise to use two or more of them together, 
as, for example, following fall cultivation of 
stubble with a cultivated crop in the spring. 

/. Sowing clean seed is one of the most 
effective ways of keeping the weeds dis- 
cussed in this chapter in check. As the 
seeds of most of these plants are small, 



152 Weeds. 

they are quite easily removed from wheat 
and barley by screening. They are more 
difficult to take out of seed oats, as a small 
proportion will stick in the crease of the 
larger oat grains. They are exceedingly 
difficult to remove from the seeds of clover 
and alfalfa, however, as they are about the 
same size and shape as the seeds of these 
plants. Care should be taken in purchas- 
ing clover and grass seeds to see that they 
are free from seeds of these and other 
weeds. 

2. Harrozving spring-sozvn small grain 
fields in the early spring, when the young 
grain begins to appear, and again when it 
is about three to five inches high, is quite 
effective in killing the young mustard and 
similar plants. In some instances three 
and even four harrowings may be given, 
especially in areas where the grain also 
will be benefited by harrowing it thus fre- 
quently. This method can only be prac- 
ticed to advantage on drilled grain, as the 
harrow will pull out the young grain as 
well as the weeds in broadcast fields, nor 
should it be used where the ground is very 
wet in the spring. It is not particularly 
effective on fall-sown grain, as the weeds 



Eradication of Mustard. 153 

which come up in the fall along with the 
grain are too securely rooted in the spring 
to be removed by the harrow. 

5. A regular rotation of crops which 
includes the introduction at frequent and 
regular intervals of cultivated crops and 
meadow, with the recurrence of small grain 
not oftener than once in three years, is an 
excellent means of preventing the growth 
of mustard and similar weeds, but one 
which in many sections can hardly yet be 
deemed practicable. Where such a rota- 
tion is practiced and proper attention given 
the cultivated crop and the sowing of clean 
seed, these and similar weeds are not likely 
to give trouble. If they are introduced in 
some way, a modification of the rotation 
may be necessary in any particular field 
where they become common, by dropping 
small grains out of it till these weeds are 
subdued. 

4. Fall cultivation of stubble Helds is 
effective, but of course can only be prac- 
ticed where clover or grass seed has not 
been sown with the grain. A shallow plow- 
ing or thorough disking immediately after 
harvest will cause the seeds of mustard 
and many other weeds to sprout if moist- 



154 Weeds. 

Lire conditions are right. Occasional har- 
rowings will then kill the small weeds, and 
encourage germination of more seed, which 
in turn can be destroyed. This method is 
particularly good when it can be followed 
by the growing of a cultivated crop in the 
spring, as outlined below. If it is neces- 
sary to grow small grain on the field on 
which autumn cultivation is practiced, har- 
rowing in the spring after the grain is up, 
as outlined in the preceding section, is 
strongly to be recommended. 

5. Fall cultivation, followed by a culti- 
vated crop in the spring. Fields which are 
pretty thoroughly infested with mustard 
can be cleared of this weed, except as the 
seed remains in the ground, by the autumn 
cultivation advised in the foregoing para- 
graph, if it is followed by a cultivated crop 
in the spring. As previously noted, the 
weeds of the mustard family do not give 
serious trouble where thorough cultivation 
is practiced. Growing a quick-maturing, 
vigorous soiling crop which will tend to 
smother the weeds and at the same time be 
removed early enough to prevent the ripen- 
ing of seeds in any quantity is also a good 
method of fighting annual weeds in con- 



Eradication of Mustard. 155 

junction with fall cultivation of stubble 
fields. 

6. The bare fallozv which is maintained 
throughout the season, though effective, is 
an expensive method of fighting weeds of 
this class, both in the labor required to 
maintain it, and the soil fertility which is 
lost through leaching, especially where the 
rainfall is considerable. A modification 
of the bare fallow which is maintained 
throughout the year can be made by com- 
bining the fall cultivation advised in sec- 
tion 3 with disking and harrowing in 
the spring for a few weeks, followed by 
late planting of a cultivated crop or a rank- 
growing soiling or green manure crop. 
This is a good method of fighting weeds 
of all kinds, and is less expensive than fal- 
lowing through the entire season, while it 
does not require the land to lie idle 
throughout the year and thus lose a crop. 

/. Hand pulling is practicable' only when 
mustard and similar weeds occur in small 
numbers when first introduced, or when 
they have been greatly reduced by other 
methods. Hand pulling is more effective 
than spudding, as the weeds can then be 
carried from the field and burned or other- 



156 Vi/eeds. 

wise destroyed. This is particularly neces- 
sary with wild mustard and similar weeds, 
which have the power of maturing their 
seeds even after the plants are removed 
from the ground. 

8. Spraying. A method which has been 
quite commonly practiced in some sections 
in recent years, and is now considered by 
many to be one of the best means of com- 
bating mustard and other broad-leaved 
weeds in grain fields, meadows and pas- 
tures, is spraying with a solution of salt, 
iron sulfate, or some other chemical. 
Spraying experiments to kill weeds were 
first begun in this country about 1896, but 
it is only in recent years that the practice 
has become at all general. This method, 
even as it is at present developed, can not 
take the place of the more generally rec- 
ognized methods of fighting weeds, such as 
the sowing of clean seed, thorough culti- 
vation, and crop rotation. It is effective, 
however, in checking the growth of weeds 
in those sections where no definite crop 
rotation w^hich includes the growing of cul- 
tivated crops is practiced, but where crop 
after crop of small grain is grown on the 
land. 



Eradication by Spraying. 157 

The iveeds zvhich can be killed or seri- 
ously checked by spraying include most of 
the broad-leaved plants, such as those 
included in the mustard family, kinghead, 
ragweed, dandelion, and even the Canada 
and bull thistles. Perennials and biennials 
like these latter, however, must be sprayed 
several times throughout the season to 
prevent the growth of new shoots from the 
roots. Other methods will usually be 
found cheaper and better in fighting these 
weeds, with the possible exception of dan- 
delions in lawns. The spray, if properly 
applied, will not injure the small grains, 
or grasses which may have been sown with 
the grain, as timothy or brome grass. Flax 
should not be sprayed after it is three or 
four inches high. Spraying is injurious to 
clover -and alfalfa, and should not be used 
on any grain field in which seeds of these 
crops have been sown, or in meadows con- 
taining them. It is not effective in fight- 
ing wild oats, quack grass, foxtail, or 
other weedy grasses. 

The best time to spray is when the first 
of the mustard, Frenchweed, or false flax 
plants are in blossom, but before they have 
formed pods, as the plants are often not 



158 Weeds. 

entirely killed by the spray and the roots 
and stems may contain sufficient vitality 
to mature the seeds, even after the leaves 
are killed. The proper time to apply the 
spray of course varies with the locality, but 
it is usually in May or early June. The 
most effectiv-e v^ork can be done if the 
spray is applied in damp, cloudy weather, 
or toward evening, when the evaporation 
will not be rapid. Naturally, the work 
should not be done when a rain is immi- 
nent, as the rain will wash the chemical 
off the leaves and destroy its effectiveness. 
Weeds are more easily killed when the 
growth is rapid than when it is slow. 
Usually one spraying is sufficient, but if 
the weeds are numerous, an additional 
application a week or ten days later may 
be necessary. 

The materials used in spraying are usu- 
ally solutions of iron sulfate, copper sul- 
fate, or common salt. Iron sulfate (cop- 
peras) is generally considered to be the 
most effective chemical for use in destroy- 
ing mustard and similar weeds. About 50 
to 55 gallons of any of these solutions are 
required to cover the weeds on an acre of 
land properly. The proper strength of the 



Eradication by Spraying. 159 

solution is about 75 to 100 pounds of iron 
sulfate to 50 gallons of water; 75 pounds 
are sufficient if the weeds are young and 
growing rapidly. From 12 to 15 pounds 
of copper sulfate, or about one-third of a 
barrel of common salt, in 50 gallons of 
water, will make the solution of proper 
strength for good work when these mate- 
rials are used. 

The machinery for spraying varies with 
the acreage on which it is to be used. If 
only a small area is to be sprayed, as in 
lawns or the eradication of small patches 
of some particular weed, any of the ordi- 
nary knapsack or bucket spray pumps, if 
fitted with a nozzle which will give a fine, 
misty spray, will be found satisfactory. If 
a large acreage is to be sprayed, a power 
sprayer of the type shown in the frontis- 
piece is necessary. This machine, or a simi- 
lar one, can be purchased from dealers in 
spraying apparatus for from $75 to $150, 
the cost varying with the size and effective- 
ness of the machine. ^ It is essential in any 
case to use a machine with sufficient power 
to give a strong, misty spray; a sprinkler 
will not do. It is desirable in purchasing 
a sprayer to select one which can be used 



i6o Weeds. 

for other purposes if possible, such as the 
spraying of potatoes or orchard and truck 
crops. 

The cost of spraying varies according to 
the material used, the machinery with which 
it is applied, and the time necessary to apply 
it. The material, whether it be iron sul- 
phate, copper sulphate, or common salt, 
should not cost more than $1.25 an acre, 
and may run as low as 75 cents, according 
to the cost in the local market, the material, 
and the quantity used. Salt is probably the 
cheapest of the three, and should not cost 
more than 75 cents. A field sprayer like 
that illustrated should spray from 25 to 40 
acres in a day. In addition to the driver 
and horse or team necessary for this outfit, 
another man and team to haul water will 
be needed for rapid work unless the spray- 
ing is done close to the water supply. 

The weeds of this family for which spe- 
cial descriptions are given are the ones 
which are most commonly found trouble- 
some. They are the zvild mustard, false 
Hax, French zvecd or penny cress, and tum- 
bling mustard. The methods of eradication 
outlined in the foregoing pages will be 
found effective in combating these and sim- 



Description of Wild Mustard. i6i 

ilar weeds of the mustard family, such as 
peppergrass, shepherd's purse, and the wild 
radish. 

(l) WILD MUSTARD. 

Wild mustard (Brassica arvensis) is one 
of the most difficult weeds to dislodge found 
on this continent, when once it gets a strong 
foothold in the soil. Owing to the extraor- 
dinary vitality of its seeds, a very long time 
is required to completely effect its removal 
from any soil infested by it, for the reason 
that for years and years the seeds lying in 
the soil continue to germinate with each 
successive cultivation that may happen to 
bring them near the surface. 

Wild mustard is an annual plant which, 
in the earlier stages of its growth, bears 
some resemblance to the radish and to the 
yellow-fleshed varieties of the turnip. It 
has a spreading, fibrous root, as shown in 
the sketch. Its stem is more or less 
branched, according as it is crowded or not 
when growing, and it bears a bright yellow 
blossom, which can be seen at a consider- 
able distance. Its seeds resemble those of 
the turnip so closely that they cannot easily 
be distinguished from them, and they also 



1 62 Weeds. 

closely resemble the seeds of some varieties 
of rape. 

Wild mustard comes up in spring as soon 
as the weather gets really warm, but seeds 
that come sufficiently near the surface will 
germinate as long as the season of growth 




WILD MUSTARD. 

lasts. It grows very rapidly, and matures 
an immense number of seeds. It sometimes 
grows to the height of more than two feet, 
but when it ripens amid grain crops is about 
eighteen inches in height. Its seed pods 



Description of Wild Mustard. 163 

are usually about an inch in length. The 
first flowers, or those borne by the earlier 
developed plants, appear in May or early in 
June, but the late plants will produce seeds 
on into the month of September, or even 
later. Fortunately, it is not a plant that 
can withstand severe frost, hence it is not 
found to any considerable extent in mead- 
ows or pastures, or in fields of winter 
wheat or rye. It is not positively known 
how long its seeds will retain the power of 
germination when lying in the soil, but it 
has been claimed that they may lie buried 
for at least fifty years and yet immediately 
spring into vigorous life when brought to 
the surface of the soil under favorable 
conditions. 

Wild mustard will grow in all kinds of 
soils, but not equally well. It is most at 
home in friable limestone soils that possess 
good drainage, but it will also grow in great 
luxuriance on loamy prairie soils. On stiff 
clays it does not grow so readily; but it 
will make fair headway even in these when 
given the opportunity. 

Wild mustard grows in all kinds of grain 
crops that are sown in the spring, and usu- 
ally it matures its seeds before the grain in 



164 Weeds. 

which it grows is ripe. It is manifest that 
where spring grains are chiefly grown the 
contest with this weed will be a difficult 
one. It has been argued by some persons 
that wild mustard does not interfere to any 
serious extent with the yields of the crops 
amid which it grows, but it must be evident 
to any one who understands the way in 
which plants feed that a soil cannot produce 
a crop of mustard and one of grain at the 
same time, with the result that the grain 
will yield as well as if the mustard had not 
been there. 

Wild mustard is distributed by means of 
various agencies. Some seeds are carried 
from place to place by birds, but usually 
this weed finds its way to new centers by 
the seed being carried in grain. The thrash- 
ing machine is also a potent means of car- 
rying it from farm to farm. It is further 
distributed over farms on which it grows 
by means of the droppings of cattle, and by 
the manure. It is also very frequently dis- 
tributed by spring floods ; when this is the 
case the farmer has great difficulty in deal- 
ing with it. 



Description of False Flax. 165 

(2) FALSE FLAX. 

False flax {Camelina saliva), sometimes 
known as wild flax, has probably gained its 
name from the prevalent, but mistaken, 
notion that it has originated in the degen- 
eracy of cultivated flax, whereas cultivated 
flax is a plant of another order. False flax 
usually grows to the height of about eigh- 
teen inches, but sometimes it grows consid- 
erably higher. Where the seeds have been 
shed numerously the previous year around 
some parent stem, it frequently comes up 
so thickly that some of the plants cannot 
grow more than a few inches above the 
ground. In the earlier stages of its growth 
false flax is somewhat leafy, but after its 
blossoming stage is passed the upper por- 
tions of the plant consist mainly of stems 
and seed pods, as shown in the sketch. The 
blossoms are small, and of a pale yellow 
color. 

Ordinarily, false "flax is classed as an 
annual, although it usually commences to 
grow in the later portions of the year previ- 
ous to that in which the seeds are matured. 
False flax is very hardy, and can withstand 
considerable frost. Its seeds, which are 



i66 



Weeds. 




FALSE FLAX. 



Description of False Flax. 167 

very numerous, are easily shed, hence when 
the ripe plants are disturbed by the jar of 
the machines used in cutting the crops amid 
which they grow, many of their seeds are 
shed upon the ground. The seeds of false 
flax have some resemblance to the seeds of 
common flax, but they are much smaller. 

False flax is a weed that will grow in any 
kind of soil adapted to winter wheat or 
meadow, hence it will flourish on a wide 
range of soils. It seems equally at home in 
the stiffest clays and in the mild, humous 
loams of the prairie. False flax peculiarly 
infests winter wheat, rye, meadows and 
pastures. It does not usually grow to any 
considerable extent in spring crops, but 
sometimes stray plants will be found in 
these crops. These stray plants, however, 
usually have sprung up in the preceding 
fall, and have survived the cultivation 
involved in preparing the ground for being 
sown in the spring. 

This plant is distributed by means of the 
seeds of the crops amid which it grows, 
by farmyard manure, and by droppings of 
cattle, but it is more widely distributed by 
being carried in the seed of timothy than 
in any other way. In this fact we find a 



i68 Weeds. 

chief explanation of the sudden appearance 
of false flax in new centres where formerly 
it was not known. 

Observations, In the conflict with false 
flax it will be well to bear in mind the fol- 
lowing: (i) That grass seeds should inva- 
riably be sown along with spring grain, as 
wheat or barley; (2) that autumn cultiva- 
tion is always the most important thing to 
be attended to, owing to the natural ten- 
dency of the weed to germinate from seed 
in the fall of the year; (3) that when false 
flax is found in meadows merely in detached 
patches, the infested parts may be cut and 
used for soiling purposes, while the remain- 
der of the crop may be harvested in the 
usual way; (4) that where alfalfa can be 
substituted for the ordinary meadow crops 
it is well to make the change, inasmuch as 
in that case the first cutting of the alfalfa 
would take place before the false flax would 
be ripe. 

(3) FRENCH WEED. 

Frenchweed (Thlaspi arvense), also 
known as pennycress and stinkweed, is an 
annual, but when it has not yet produced 
seeds in the autumn, it will live through the 



Description of Frenchzvecd. 169 

winter and mature them the following 
spring and summer. The name stinkweed 
is due to the offensive odor which it pos- 
sesses, and which it imparts to the beef and 
milk of animals which feed upon it. It is 
of the same family as mustard, and, like all 
weeds of that family, it is difficult to eradi- 
cate. In certain sections of the western 
prairies it is giving very much trouble, more 
especially in Minnesota, the Dakotas and 
Manitoba. 

Frenchweed is usually about a foot high, 
but under favorable circumstances it will 
reach the height of two feet, and the plants 
are capable of bearing seeds though not 
more than 2 inches high. The branches are 
numerous. The leaves are oblong in shape 
and of a deep green shade. The flowers 
are very small and white in color. The seed 
pods are elliptical and flat, and from one- 
fourth of an inch to half an inch in diame- 
ter. They are very numerous and each pod 
contains several small seeds. 

Frenchweed will ripen its seeds at any 
season of the year from June until the 
arrival of the autumn frosts. The season 
of maturity is dependent chiefly on the time 
of the year at which the plants commence 



170 



Weeds. 



to grow. Those which get a start in the 
autumn blossom in May, and by the arrival 




FRENCHWEED. 



of the harvest season the seeds will nearly 
all be shed on the ground. It is claimed 



Description of Tumbling Mustard. 171 

that plants from seeds which have fallen 
early in the season will in turn mature 
before the coming of winter. 

Frenchweed will grow least vigorously 
on stiff clays, and most luxuriantly on the 
vegetable soils of the prairies. It harms 
grain crops much more than pasture or 
meadow or cultivated crops, and it does 
m.ore injury to grain crops which ripen 
early than to those which ripen late. 

Frenchweed is distributed through the 
medium of the seeds. They are carried 
along with the seeds of cereals amid which 
they have grown. They may also be dis- 
tributed in manure and in the droppings of 
cattle, and to some extent they are con- 
veyed by water and carried by wind. The 
seeds are possessed of great vitality, but 
they will not germinate unless they are near 
the surface of the soil. 

(4) TUMBLING MUSTARD. 

Tumbling mustard (Sisymbrium altissi- 
mum) is another bad weed of the mustard 
family. In some localities it is known 
simply as "Tumble weed," but in central 
Europe it is called Hungarian mustard. It 
is thought that it was brought to this con- 



172 Weeds, 

tinent by certain Austrians employed in the 
construction of the Canadian Pacific rail- 
way. About the year 1889, it began to 
arrest the attention of the farmers around 
Indian Head, Saskatchewan. Since that 
date it has spread rapidly over a large sec- 
tion of the Canadian Northwest, and to 
some extent into the adjoining portions of 
the United States. 

Tumbling mustard is an annual or winter 
annual. When it grows amid small grain 
crops, its branches are not numerous, but 
they are long and slender. When it has 
room to grow the branches are quite nu- 
merous and they bear an enormous numj>er 
of seed pods. The seeds are small, and of 
a dark reddish brown color. The plants 
commonly grow about two feet high but 
the height varies with the soil and season. 
The flowers are a pale yellow and the plant 
bears a close resemblance to common wild 
mustard. 

Tumbling mustard will grow at all 
season between the time of the spring and 
autumn frosts. The seeds usually mature 
at the same time as those of the small 
grains or even a little earlier, but under 



Description of Tumbling Mustard. 173 

certain conditions they will continue to 
ripen until the arrival of the autumn frosts. 




TUMBLING MUSTARD 



If cut off before the blossoming stage, 
more branches will be produced. 



174 Weeds. 

While tumbling mustard infests all kinds 
of crops, it is peculiarly troublesome in 
cereals. Where these get an early and 
vigorous start in the spring, they will k^eep 
the weeds in check for that reason, but 
when from any cause the crops are weakly, 
the weeds will soon overshadow them. It 
does not give serious trouble in pastures or 
meadows. This plant will grow in various 
classes of soils, but it thrives most vigor- 
ously on those essentially humous in their 
composition. 

Tumbling mustard is propagated chiefly 
by such agencies as wind, water, birds and 
the seeds of cereals and millet, but of these 
the first mentioned is by far the most potent 
and dangerous. As the wind is such an 
effective agency in its distribution, anything 
that will stop the spread of this weed by 
this means, as a wire fence, will be useful. 
If the mustard and other plants which col- 
lect along the fence are then gathered up 
and destroyed, they will be prevented from 
again blowing out into the fields when the 
direction of the wind changes. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



ERADICATION OF THE WEEDY GRASSES. 

The grass family includes a large number 
of our most useful plants, such as corn, 
wheat, oats, barley, and all the forage 
grasses, and is the most valuable of all the 
great botanical divisions. On the other 
hand, it includes some of our most trouble- 
some weeds, which, because of the persist- 
ence of their creeping root-stocks, as in 
quack grass, or the similarity of their 
growth and seed habits to the cereals in 
which they grow, as with wild oats, or for 
some other reason, are very troublesome to 
the farmer and very difficult to eradicate. 

The three most troublesome grasses to 
the farmers of Canada and the northern 
United States are quack grass, wild oats, 
and foxtail. Wild barley or squirrel-tail 
grass is also a very serious weed pest in 
prairie pastures and meadows, but one 
which rather quickly succumbs to cultiva- 
tion. On land that cannot be cultivated, 



176 Weeds. 

cutting before the seed ripens will be effect- 
ive in preventing its spread. Nearly all 
the other weedy grasses quite closely resem- 
ble some one of the three mentioned in the 
beginning of. this paragraph, and may be 
eradicated by using the methods recom- 
mended for the one they most nearly 
approach in their habits of growth. 

(l) QUACK GRASS. 

Quack grass (Agropyron repens) is 
known by a great variety of names, as quack 
grass, scutch grass, quick grass, quitch 
grass, and dog grass; but it is generally 
called either quack or couch grass. Quack 
grass is a creepmg perennial, the root-stocks 
of which are so numerous that they soon fill 
the soil. They resemble considerably the 
roots of Canadian blue grass (Poa com- 
pressa), but they are much larger and 
stronger and more vigorous in every way, 
and they are very much more tenacious of 
life. The root-stocks of quack grass are so 
strong and unyielding that they have been 
know^n to push their way through the tuber 
of the potato. The stems grow to the height 
of one to three feet, according to soil and 
season, and each of them is terminated bv 



Description of Quack Grass. 177 



a slender spike from two to several inches 
in length. The leaves bear much resem- 




QUACK GRASS. 



blance to those of timothy, but are some- 
what larger, and are characterized by a 
deeper shade of green. 



178 Weeds. 

Quack grass makes a good growth early 
in the season. Its seeds usually mature in 
August, about the same time as those of 
timothy. It will grow in almost any kind 
of soil, but is most partial to loams and 
soils of a decidedly open texture. It is 
least at home in stiff clays, and in these it 
is much more easily destroyed than else- 
where. 

Quack grass grows in all kinds of crops 
from early spring until late autumn, and 
during this entire period the work of prop- 
agation goes constantly on by means of its 
creeping root-stocks. When once it gets a 
footing, its power of crowding out other 
crops is very great. Like the Canada this- 
tle and the perennial sow thistle, quack 
grass also is easily distributed by means of 
the seeds of the useful grains and grasses, 
for its seeds ripen at the same time as those 
of the cereals, and those of some of the 
clovers, as for example alsike and mam- 
moth, and those of timothy. It is also dis- 
tributed through the agency of farmyard 
manure, both home-made and purchased. 

Quack grass has some redeeming quali- 
ties. It furnishes a considerable amount 
of food of a nutritious -character, both as 



Eradication of Quack Grass. 179 

pasture and as hay, and when cut as hay it 
affords a considerable aftermath. It is so 
hardy that the cold of winter and the heat 
of summer cannot destroy it. Hence it 
has been deHberately bought and sowed 
to provide permanent pasture, but after a 
few years its roots become so matted that 
the plants fail to produce a vigorous 
growth. When this is so, the pasture may 
easily be renovated by simply plowing it, 
and leveling it down again with the har- 
row. Quack grass, however, is generally 
looked upon as a great pest, owing to the 
difficulty of getting rid of it when its 
absence is desired, and this view is doubt- 
less the correct one to take of it. 

Other weedy grasses which resemble 
quack grass more or less closely and are 
■sometimes mistaken for it include vanilla 
grass or holy grass, western wheat grass, 
and dropseed grass. All of these grasses 
may be eradicated by the methods recom- 
mended below for the eradication of quack 
grass. 

, Modes of Eradication. 

When the attempt is made to destroy 
quack grass, effective work should be made 
of it, and this in a single season. The fol- 



i8o Weeds. 

lowing modes of dealing with it will be 
found successful, except in season of unu- 
sually heavy rainfall. 

I. After-harvest and autumn cultivation, 
followed by spring cultivation and a cul- 
tivated crop. After harvest, plow the 
infested fields lightly, and then harrow with 
the ordinary harrow — if necessary, using 
also the spring-tooth cultivator to shake 
the roots of the grass free from the soil. 
Then draw the roots into light windrows 
with the horse rake, and, when they are 
dry enough, burn them. If the weather 
should not be dry enough for burning 
them, the root-stocks may be carted into 
a compost heap. Repeat the operation a 
second time and even a third time the same 
autumn if the weather will admit of it, 
plowing the ground more deeply each time 
in order to bring up fresh root-stocks. In 
no case, however, should the disturbing 
work go on in wet weather. When the 
late autumn arrives, rib the land by turn- 
ing two furrows together from opposite 
directions, or plow the land so that the 
largest possible amount of surface shall be 
exposed to the action of the frost in win- 
ter. The frost has the efifect (i) of kill- 



Eradication of Quack Grass. i8i 

ing the roots that are exposed by the plow- 
ing, and (2) of freeing them from, the soil. 
In the spring use -the harrow and culti- 
vator occasionally in time of dry weather, 
and the horse rake also if necessary, until 
it is time to plant corn, roots, or some other 
cultivated crop. Then cultivate this crop 
properly, giving it such hand work as may 
be deemed necessary along the line of the 
rows. 

2. Ploiv under deeply after the grass has 
been cut for hay. Allow the grass to grow 
until near the blossoming stage. Then 
mow it for hay. Then plow the land 
deeply, not less than 8 or 9 inches, and if 
it can be plowed to a greater depth the 
results will be even more satisfactory. The 
plowing should be done with much care so 
that all the grass is deeply buried. The 
disk should then be run over the land every 
seven to fourteen days subsequently dur- 
ing the growing season. In a dry season 
this method will prove very effective. 

J. Grow two crops of- corn in succession. 
Grow two crops of corn in succession, 
planting the corn so that it can be culti- 
vated both ways. The cultivation should 
be so thorough that the quack g'rass will be 



i82 Weeds. 

all destroyed between the rows of corn. 
The following season run the disk over the 
land quite frequently until the middle of 
June. Then sow millet at the rate of one 
bushel of seed per acre. The growth of 
millet thus secured should smother any 
plants of the quack grass that may have 
survived. 

Observations. If the first method out- 
lined is thoroughly followed out, then by 
autumn the quack grass will be completely 
destroyed. An infested field was very 
thoroughly cleaned by this method in one 
season at the Ontario Experiment Station 
farm at Guelph in 1891, the cultivated crop 
used being corn. It should be remarked 
that more constant and careful cultivation 
was given to this crop than a corn crop 
usually receives, and this is true in respect 
to both the horse labor and the hand labor. 
In a wet season, however, it would scarcely 
be possible to eradicate quack grass with- 
out an expenditure of labor too costly for 
such a result. Indeed, quack grass should 
never be disturbed when the ground is wet, 
for at such a time the growth of the grass 
would in some respects be encouraged by 
stirring the soil. 



Description of the Wild Oat. 183 

In fence borders it will usually be found 
very difficult to dislodge quack grass with- 
out first removing the fence for a time, 
and then cleaning the ground as described 
above. However, another mode would be 
to smother the weed by piling litter or 
manure upon it, but this mode would only 
be applicable in the case of small patches. 
It must not be forgotten that the weed 
should be destroyed in such places, other- 
wise it will be continually pushing itself 
out into the field and giving trouble. 

(2) THE WILD OAT. 

The wild oat (Avena fatua) is an annual 
grass that is one of our most pernicious and 
troublesome weeds. In fact, the attention 
has never been given to this pest that its 
banefulness merits, but we would advise all 
farmers to spare no pains to exterminate it 
utterly from their land. The wild oat will 
grow readily at different seasons of the 
year, but it makes its most vigorous growth 
in the warm, moist weather of spring, 
though not in early spring. It bears con- 
siderable resemblance to the common oat, 
but there are some distinctive points of dif- 
ference. In the wild oat the chaff scales 



i84 



Weeds. 



which adhere to the grain are thick and 
hairy, while in the cultivated varieties these 
scales are not so coarse and are hairless. 
The wild oat has a long, stiff awn, which 




WILD OATS. 



is usually twisted near its base ; in the cul- 
tivated varieties, the awn is either entirely 
wanting or, if present, is not so stiff, and 
is seldom bent. When the awn of the wild 



Description of the Wild Oat. 185 

oat is dry, it is generally twisted closely 
upon itself, but when it is moistened by 
dew or rain, it slowly uncoils. This uncoil- 
ing of the twisted awn causes the seed to 
sprawl and spring about upon the ground, 
and is a means of forcing the seed into the 
ground in damp weather. The grain of the 
wild oat is light, being composed chiefly of 
hull, and it is therefore of but little value 
as a feed. 

The resemblance of the wild oat to other 
cereals before heading is so close that when 
it grows along with them it is impossible 
to- detect its presence without very careful 
scrutiny. It matures its seeds earlier than 
nearly all the varieties of the useful cereals, 
but of course not so much so in the case of 
fall wheat as of the spring cereals ; hence 
it is especially troublesome in the localities 
where cereal crops are much grown. It is 
very troublesome, too, from the fact that it 
begins to shed its seeds upon the ground 
as soon as ripe, and the operation of har- 
vesting the crops amid which it grows 
greatly helps it to shed its seeds. It is a 
very hardy plant, and will endure adverse 
conditions of soil and weather in a remark- 
able degree, but its seeds will not germinate 



i86 Weeds. 

very early in the spring, nor in the autumn, 
unless the weather be warm and moist. It 
luxuriates in soils that are well adapted to 
the growth of cereals, but it will also grow 
in various other soils. The wild oat does 
not give serious trouble in meadows or pas- 
tures. Its seeds are possessed of great 
vitality, and will spring into life when 
brought under suitable conditions, although 
they may have been buried in the ground 
or in unrotted manure for years and years. 
The wild oat is distributed most freely 
by means of the seeds of the small grains, 
for the reason that, if left to grow among 
these crops, it is sure to ripen before them, 
and therefore to have a portion of its seed 
mixed with the thrashed grain. It is also 
very largely distributed by manure, since 
its seed is so light that there is no means of 
preventing it from being very freely mixed 
with the straw of the crops amid which it 
has grown. When once among the straw of 
the manure heap, its seeds will maintain 
their vitality for years, unless the utmost 
pains be taken to thoroughly rot the manure, 
which should always be done before the 
manure is placed on the land if wild oat 
seeds are suspected of being present in it. 



Eradication of the Wild Oat. 187 

The watercourses also carry down the seeds 
of wild oats from higher levels, and some 
seeds are brought into new localities by 
thrashing machines. On the farm it is also 
further distributed by being carried in the 
droppings of animals. 

Darnel and cheat are annual weedy 
grasses which give much trouble in some 
sections. They can be eradicated by the 
means here recommended for the wild oat. 

Modes of Eradication. 

The following are the modes of eradica- 
tion that have been found most successful 
in dealing with wild oats: 

I. After-harvest and autumn cultivation, 
follozved by a cultivated crop. In fields 
which have borne grain crops, plow the 
land just as soon as this can be done, start- 
ing the process even before the shocks of 
grain have been removed from the fields — 
the reason for this early plowing being that 
many of the wild oat seeds which have been 
recently shed upon the ground may at this 
time be induced to germinate, whereas they 
could not easily be induced to germinate 
later on. Plow a second time, and then 
cultivate or harrow the land occasionally, 



i88 Weeds. 

until the time of late plowing in the fall. 
Other wild oat seeds lying in the upper por- 
tions of the soil may thus be encouraged to 
germinate. It will be an additional encour- 
agement if the land be rolled once or twice 
during the process, especially if the season 
be dry, for the rolling tends to retain the 
moisture of the soil, and when the soil is 
not moist the oats do not germinate readily. 
In any case, it must be remembered that 
they do not germinate so readily in the 
autumn as in the warm and moist days of 
spring. When the late autumn has come, 
plow deeply, so that the lower section of 
the cultivated portion of the soil will be 
brought to the surface. Then in the spring- 
stir the surface soil occasionally until it is 
time to plant corn or some other cultivated 
crop. 

2. Growing tzvo cultivated crops. Grow 
two cultivated crops in succession on the 
land, giving careful attention to the previ- 
ous autumn cultivation and to the subse- 
quent preparation of 'the soil for seed, and 
to the cultivation of the crops while they 
are growing. 

J. Encourage germination, kill the young 
plants, and sozv a late crop. Allow the wild 



Eradication of the Wild Oat. 189 

oats to start in the early spring. Then plow 
the land in order to bury the myriads of 
oats that have germinated. The ground 
should be at once harrowed to encourage 
the germination of the oats in the upper 
section of the soil. When another crop 
has started the disk should again be run 
over the land. It should then be sown to 
millet or barley during the first half of 
June. These crops should be cut before any 
stray wild oats that may have survived 
have produced seed. The ground should 
then be at once plowed again to bring up 
the lower section of the furrow slice, which 
will contain seeds. The next year the same 
process should be followed. But few wild 
oats will then remain in the soil. If a cul- 
tivated crop, as corn, follows, the wild oats 
should be all destroyed. 

4. Seed the land to alfalfa. One of the 
most effective ways to eradicate wild oats 
is to seed the land to alfalfa. The fre- 
quency of the cutting of the alfalfa crop 
will prevent any of the oats from maturing 
seed. If the alfalfa is harvested for sev- 
eral successive years, the seeds of the wild 
oats remaining . in the soil will lose their 
germinating power. The two methods last 



190 Weeds. 

submitted are specially applicable to north- 
western conditions. 

Observations, (i) In all districts infested 
with wild oats, darnel, or cheat, the great- 
est care should be taken to get pure seed 
for sowing, especially of spring oats, wheat, 
and barley, for these weedy grasses will in 
many cases ripen earlier than any of these. 
(2) If these weeds exist on any farm, their 
seeds, owing to their lightness, are sure to 
get , mixed with the straw of the thrashed 
grain, and thus get into the manure. Owing 
to the remarkable vitality of the seed of 
wild oats, whenever there is a suspicion that 
the manure contains wild oat seed it is par- 
ticularly essential that it should be thor- 
oughly rotted before being used. (3) 
Owing to its reluctance to germinate in the 
fall, autumn cultivation does not do as 
much for the eradication of this weed as 
for many others. The greatest pains, there- 
fore, must be taken to induce its seeds to 
germinate by the earliest possible cultiva- 
tion after harvest. As its seeds will not ger- 
minate in autumn unless the weather is 
warm and moist, the wild oat is very hard 
to deal with in the American and Canadian 
Northwest, where the autumn days are 



Description of Foxtail. 191 

never warm enough to secure the germina- 
tion of the seeds. The soil there is so suit- 
able to the weed that it grows with great 
vigor, even to a height of six feet. 

(3) FOXTAIL. 

Foxtail (Setaria glauca) is better known 
in the Northwestern states as summer grass 
or pigeon grass. It grows to a greater or 
less extent in nearly every section of the 
continent where the land has been tilled, 
even if only for a few years. It gives great 
trouble in prairie countries where one kind 
of cereal is frequently grown for many 
years in succession on the same lands. It 
is also troublesome in all crops in the corn 
bek, particularly in Iowa and the adjoining 
states. Green foxtail {Setaria viridis) is 
a closely related species which is more 
common in the East, Practically the sam.e 
description applies to it, and the same 
methods of treatment are applicable. Fox- 
tail usually grows to the height of about 
one foot when matured, although the 
height varies much with the richness of the 
soil. It is capable of maturing seeds even 
when but a few inches high. The leaves 
bear a very close resemblance to those of 



192 Weeds. 

millet, but they are much smaller. The 
head is covered with fine, soft hairs, and it 
produces many seeds. 

Foxtail commences to grow as soon as 
the soil gets warm, and the seeds, which 
have great vitality, will germinate under 
favorable conditions until the arrival of 
cold weather in autumn. After the cul- 
tivation has ceased in corn, potatoes, and 
similar crops, the seeds which lie in the 
soil will grow when it is sufficiently moist. 
The plants produced under these condi- 
tions grow very rapidly and mature seeds 
in an incredibly short space of time. 

Foxtail will grow on almost every class 
of soils, but on rich prairie soils it luxu- 
riates. It infests almost every form of 
crop grown, but does not give much trouble 
in rye, winter wheat, or on cultivated 
meadow, owing to the early period at 
which these crops mature. It is spe- 
cially troublesome in cereals sown in the 
spring, as in these the plants frequently 
grow in such numbers as to greatly hinder 
the growth of the crops. 

Foxtail is distributed through the agency 
of birds, wind and water, and to a still 
greater extent probably through that of seed 



Description of Foxtail. 193 




FOXTAIL 



194 Weeds. 

grain, manure and droppings of animals. 

Other annual weedy grasses which can 
be eradicated by the methods given below 
include barnyard grass, fingergrass, and 
crabgrass. 

Modes of Eradication. 

The following are the modes of eradi- 
cation that have been found most success- 
ful in dealing with foxtail: 

1. Modifying the rotation. Increase the 
acreage of rye, winter wheat, cultivated 
grasses and permanent pastures. 

2. Autumn cultivation. Practice autumn 
cultivation to the greatest possible extent. 
If the fields which have grown cereals are 
at once ploughed, as soon as the grain is 
removed, the maturing of many of the 
seeds will be prevented, but not of all of 
them. 

3. Groiuing cultivated crops. Grow cul- 
tivated crops so far as practicable, more 
especially crops of corn. In these the cul- 
tivation should be continued as late in the 
season as possible. 

./. Harrozving the grain. Harrow the 
grain in the spring with a light harrow, 
with manv teeth in it, just after the fox- 



Eradication of Foxtail. 195 

tail plants have appeared in large numbers 
above the surface of the ground. This 
should never be attempted when the 
ground or the grain is wet. When the 
work of harrowing is judiciously done it 
will also prove helpful to the crops which 
are thus dealt with. 

5. Pasturing ivith sheep. Utilize sheep 
in pasturing off the stray plants in pas- 
tures and in the aftermath of meadows, 
and in eating off the myriads of plants 
which frequently grow among the stubbles 
of cereal crops, in corn crops and in waste- 
places generally. A flock of sheep will 
soon clean out all the plants growing in a 
crop of corn, and without injury to the 
corn, when the sheep are turned in to feed 
amid the corn at the proper season. 

Observations, (i) In fighting this weed 
the aim should be to give prominence to 
those methods which will most eft'ectively 
secure the quick germination of the weed 
seeds in the soil. Until these germinate 
they cannot be removed. (2) To get the 
complete mastery of the weed it will prob- 
ably be found necessary to cease to grow 
cereals which are sown in the spring from 
year to year upon the same lands. 



CHAPTER IX. 

SPECIFIC MODES OF ERADICATING MISCEL- 
LANEOUS TROUBLESOME WEEDS. 

The most important of the weeds which 
give trouble to the farmer in the northern 
United States which have not been treated 
in the three preceding chapters are the Rus- 
sian thistle, the plantains, bindzveed, wild 
buckwheat, corn cockle, ivhcat-thief, blue- 
zveed and zvild carrot. The last three of 
these are most serious in eastern Canada 
and the eastern United States. Wheat- 
thief and the blueweed belong to the same 
botanical family, as do the Russian thistle 
and the wild buckwheat. With these excep- 
tions, the weeds mentioned in this chapter 
are not closely related. 

(l) THE RUSSIAN THISTLE. 

The Russian thistle (Salsoli kali var. 
tragus) is one of the most aggressive weed 
pests that has ever come to the prairies of 
the west. It is frequently called the Rus- 



Description of the Russian Thistle. 197 

sian cactus, but strictly speaking it is neither 
a thistle nor a cactus. 

This plant, it is claimed, first obtained a 
foothold in the United State-s in Bonhomme 
county, South Dakota, about the year 1873. 
It is supposed to have been brought in flax- 
seed from the plains of Russia, where it 
has been growing increasingly formidable 
for at least two centuries. So rapid was 
the spread of the Russian thistle in the 
United States that it was soon considered 
a serious menace to successful agriculture 
in several of the prairie states bordering on 
the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. It has 
also made its appearance in states farther 
to the east, but nowhere is it now so seri- 
ously regarded as it was a few years ago, 
though it is still a very troublesome weed 
in the prairie sections. 

The Russian thistle is an annual. The 
early leaves of the young plants are smooth 
and slender, about two inches long, and 
each is tipped with a spine. Above the 
early leaves branches grow out which pro- 
duce many spines, and the number and 
length of the branches vary much with the 
attendant conditions of growth. The spines 
grow in clusters of three, and as the plants 



198 



Weeds. 



near maturity they become so rigid that the 
legs of horses require protection when they 
have to travel among the mature weeds. 
When near maturity the plant appears to 
be almost leafless. Specimens of the plant 
have been found with a diameter not less 
than five feet. 




THE RUSSIAN THISTLE 



The Russian thistle does not begin to 
grow very early in th^ season, hence if 
grain crops are given an early start in the 
spring the thistle which infests them will 



Description of the Russian Thistle. 199 

be so far kept in check that it may not seri- 
ously injure the crops. It frequently con- 
tinues to grow and mature seeds until the 
frosts become severe enough to destroy its 
vitality. The earlier plants mature much 
of the seed in the latter part of August 
and in September, hence all plants cut off 
or pulled up after that time should be 
burned. It is claimed that an average sized 
plant is capable of maturing from 20,000 
to 30,000 seeds. 

This weed is specially troublesome in 
grain crops; the later the crops and the 
more weakly they are the greater will be 
the injury done. It grows with sufficient 
vigor under some conditions to prevent the 
harvesting of the grain by the ordinary 
binder, and in all cases on account of its 
bulk it makes harvesting difficult and 
expensive. It infests all kinds of crops, 
but is easily destroyed in such as are culti- 
vated. This weed grows to some extent on 
the native prairie, but not so much where 
grasses are well established in the soil, as 
where prairie fires, gophers or prairie dogs 
have prepared a seed bed for it. 

The Russian thistle is propagated solely 
by means of its seed and its marvelous 



200 Weeds. 

power of propagation is attributable to the 
ease with which the winds send it tumbhng 
over the prairie for miles in succession, the 
number of seeds which it produces, and the 
readiness with which the seeds germinate 
under favorable conditions. Railways are 
largely responsible for the conveyance of 
the seed to new centers. It has also been 
carried in flaxseed and in the seed of cereals. 

Modes of Eradication. 

The Russian thistle is not difficult of 
eradication. Its great weakness lies in the 
inability of the seeds to maintain vitality 
under normal conditions for a longer 
period than two years. Under a good sys- 
tem of farming it may be eradicated with- 
out great difficulty. Any system of farm- 
ing that will prevent the plants from matur- 
ing their seeds for two successive years 
will accomplish this end. 

The following are the modes of eradica- 
tion which have been found most success- 
ful in dealing with the Russian thistle : 

7, Modifying the rotation. Cereal crops 
and other crops which favor the maturing 
of the seeds may be omitted for two suc- 
cessive vears. and other crops grown in 



Eradication of the Russian Thistle. 201 

their stead, such as cultivated crops or the 
tame grasses. 

2. Spudding. When the weed plants 
are not numerous they may be destroyed 
by cutting them off with the spud below 
the crown any time before the seeds are 
matured, but the work will be much more 
easily done at an early rather than at a 
late stage of growth. Along fence bor- 
ders and in waste-places they may also be 
thus destroyed. 

5. Grozving two ctdtivatcd crops. If 
two cultivated crops are grown in succes- 
sion on the same land, and if at the same 
time proper cultivation is given to them, 
the weeds will be all destroyed. 

4. Growing forage crops and pasturing 
them zvith sheep. The Russian thistle may 
be easily destroyed by growing certain for- 
age crops and pasturing them with sheep 
for two years in succession. Winter rye 
should be given a prominent place among 
these crops where it can be successfully 
grown. The rye may be followed about 
the end of May with corn, sorghum, millet 
or rape. Sheep' seem to relish the thistles 
when young and tender. 



202 V/eeds, 

5. Harrow small grain in the early 
spring. Harrow the grain crop with a 
Hght steel harrow as soon as the blades 
begin to show. The teeth should be given 
a backward slant sufficient to produce the 
result sought. When the grain is four or 
five inches high, it should be harrowed a 
second time, and even a third and fourth 
time under some conditions. This method 
of destroying Russian thistles has special 
adaptation to dry areas where the harrow- 
ing of the land has also a beneficial influ- 
ence on the growth of the crop. 

6. Autiunn cultivation. Autumn culti- 
vation will be found very helpful in 
destroying the Russian thistle, and also in 
preventing its further increase. It is effica- 
cious in proportion to the early date at 
which the plowing is done. 

7. Legislative enactments. When vacant 
lands have become infested, stringent. legis- 
lation is necessary to keep the weeds prop- 
erly in check. 

(2) THE PLANTAIN. 

The two most important varieties of the 
plantain are known as the common plantain 
(Plan f ago major) and the buckhorn or 



Description of Plantain an 



d Bnckhorn. 20; 



EnRlish plantain {Plantago lanceolata). 

The common plantain, which seems to 
follow everywhere in the wake of civihza- 
tion, IS not a very troublesome weed. It 
grows about dwellings, m paths where the 
^rass has been much trodden, and m was e 
places generally where the soil is rich 
Good cultivation in nearly all cases will 
suffice to keep it at bay. _ 

The buckhorn or rib grass is a much 
more troublesome weed, and has become a 
source of great annoyance in the many sec- 
tions of our continent into which it has 
been introduced from Europe. It is a s^im- 
ple perennial. Its leaves are long, ribbed, 
hairv, and narrowed at the base ihe 
stems which support its seed-spil<es are 
usually about a foot high, though they 
sometimes attain a height considerab y 
o-reater. Several spikes are commonly 
borne by each plant. These spikes are usu- 
ally from one to two inches long, mucn 
shorter relatively than those of the com- 
mon plantain. 

The buckhorn continues to grow through- 
out the greater part of the growing period 
of the year. If it be cut off above ground, 
as with the scythe, after the spikes begin 



204 



Weeds. 



to appear, other spikes will at once com- 
mence to grow in their place. Its effort 
to produce seed is thus sustained until late 
in the season. It comes into flower in June,- 




THE BUCKHORN 



and seems capable under certain conditions 
of maturing seeds during all the months 
following until cold weather is near. 

The buckhorn is most troublesome in 
meadows and pastures, more especially in 



Eradication of Plantain and Buckhorn. 205 

the latter. It also infests lanes, roadsides 
and waste places, but it is not specially trou- 
blesome in tilled fields, as it does not seem 
to have much power to withstand good cul- 
tivation. Its favorite soils are those which 
may -be termed sandy loams, or loams of 
mild constitution. 

This weed is most commonly distributed 
by means of the seeds of grasses and clo- 
vers, but it is also distributed to some extent 
in the seeds of cereal grains which have not 
been carefully cleaned. It is also distrib- 
uted in manure, and by means of other 
agencies. Its seeds are about the same size 
as those of red clover, and are much the 
same in color. In shape each seed is slightly 
elongated, and furrowed on one side. 

Modes of Eradication. 

The following are the modes of eradica- 
tion that have been found most successful 
in dealing with the buckhorn. They are 
also effective in killing the common plan- 
tain and closely related plants. 

I. Breaking up nicadozv-land and folloiv- 
ing it zvith a cultivated crop. In the case 
of meadows, plow them just after they have 
been cut, and cultivate on the surface until 



2o6 Weeds. 

the late autumn. Grow a cultivated crop 
the following season. 

2. After-harvest and autumn cultivation, 
followed next season by a soiling crop, and 
this by a quick-grozving cultivated crop. 
In the case of tilled fields that are infested, 
])low just after harvest, and thereafter give 
due attention to surface cultivation. Next 
season grow a soiling crop, and follow that 
with rape, sorghum, or some other quick- 
growing cultivated crop, grown as described 
in section 3 of our treatment of the Canada 
thistle. 

J. Using the mower, or scythe. In places 
where cultivation cannot be introduced, per- 
sistently use the mower or scythe to keep 
the plants from maturing their seeds, or, 
if practicable, use the spud to cut off the 
plants below the surface of the ground. 

(3) BINDWEED. 

The two common species of bindweed 
{Convolvulus scpium and C arvensis) are 
very similar creeping perennials with trail- 
ing habits of growth. As they are so simi- 
lar, they will be discvssed under the same 
heading. Bindweed, or as it is often called, 
wild morning glory, usually grows to the 



Description of Bindweed, 207 

length of two to three feet, but on some 
soils it attains a much greater length. This 
weed bears a close resemblance to the morn- 
ing-glory. Its leaves are cordate or heart- 




BINDWEED. 



shaped, and its blossoms are sometimes 
white, but more commonly they are of a 
pinkish white, which may be tinged with 
veins of blue. Its roots are larger than the 



2o8 Weeds. 

vines. They form a network in the soil, 
and also go down deeply into it. 

Bindweed begins to grow usually in the 
month of May, and maintains its greenness 
until the time of early frost, although its 
growth is most vigorous during the early 
months of summer. It commences to blos- 
som early in the season, and continues to 
bloom for a long time. Bindweed grows in 
various crops, but it is most troublesome in 
grain crops ; yet when it is found in hoed 
crops, it greatly adds to the trouble of keep- 
ing them clean. It climbs up the stalks of 
the grain amid which it grows, and, after 
twining around them, it gradually draws 
them down toward the ground. So com- 
pletely intertwined and entangled are the 
vines within themselves that they some- 
times greatly hinder the progress of the 
mower or binder. This weed will grow in 
various soils, but is most at home in soils 
which contain a large amount of humus. 

Bindweed is generally distributed by 
means of the seeds of cereal grains, but it 
is also carried from place to place by the 
agency of water. In this last fact lies one 
explanation of the extent to which it is 
sometimes found in bottom lands. It is 



Eradication of Bindweed. 209 

also distributed by means of manure, and 
in cultivated land it is propagated very 
largely by means of the root-stocks which 
it so numerously possesses. 

Modes of Eradication. 

The following are the modes of eradica- 
tion that have been found most successful 
in dealing with bindweed : 

/. Modifying the rotation. In the 
infested fields drop grain crops out of the 
rotation until the fields have been subjected 
to a cleaning process. 

2. After-harvest and autumn cultivation, 
followed by spring cultivation and a cul- 
tivated crop. Plow the infested fields 
immediately after harvest, and cultivate or 
plow them sufficiently often thereafter to 
keep the plants from breathing until the 
period of growth ceases. The plowing 
should be shallow, but at the same tirne 
thorough. The last plowing, however, 
should be deep, to prepare the soil for the 
next crop. In the spring proceed in the 
same way as in the autumn cultivation; that 
is, keep constantly stirring the soil near the 
surface until it is time to plant a cultivated 
crop, as corn or roots. Then give this 



2IO Weeds. 

crop careful culture throughout the remam- 
ing part of the season. 

It may here be remarked that, as this 
weed is usually a singularly persistent 
grower, it requires much labor and con- 
stant watchfulness in order to eradicate it 
completely in one season. 

J. Calling in the aid of sheep or hogs. 
When bindweed grows in pastures and 
waste-places, its growth may be checked by 
allowing sheep to have access to the places 
where it grows, inasmuch as they are not 
disinclined to feed upon this weed, especially 
early in the season^ while yet the plant is 
tender. Hogs that have not had their 
noses rung or slit to prevent rooting will 
be a very efficient aid in eradicating bind- 
v/eed, if they are pastured on it or turned 
on to a plowed field which contains the 
roots. They dig up the fleshy, succulent 
roots and eat them freely. 

(4) WILD BUCKWHEAT. 

Wild buckwheat {Polygonum convol- 
vulus), sometimes improperly called bind- 
weed, is a plant possessed of a creeping, 
and also a twining and chnging habit of 
growth. In some aspects it resembles 



Description of Wild Buckzvheat. 211 

bindweed previously described, but the 
roots grow very differently, and there is 
no resemblance between the blossoms or 
the seeds of the two plants. 

The plants grow singly, but oftentimes 
in great numbers. The tendrils spread 
abroad in different directions, and cling to 
the vegetation amid which the weeds grow. 
They will then clamber up to the very top 
of the stalks of matured grain, and will 
oftentimes cause it to lean toward the earth 
in consequence of their weight. 

The seeds resemble those of cultivated 
buckwheat both in shape and color, but 
they are not quite so large. They are pos- 
sessed of a considerable degree of vitality. 
, Wild buckwheat begins to grow almost 
as soon as the cereal grains, and it con- 
tinues to grow and mature seeds until the 
time of severe frosts. In spring cereals 
many of the seeds are matured before the 
grain can be harvested. It infests all kinds 
of crops, but is much more troublesome in 
cereals than in other crops. It gives but 
little trouble in pastures and meadows. 

Wild buckwheat will grow in various 
soils, but it grows much more vigorously 
in rich vegetable loams than in soil stiff 



212 



Weeds. 



and heavy or deficient in vegetable matter. 
It has come to be a grievous pest on prai- 




WILD BUCKWHEAT 



rie soils in localities where cereals are 
grown on the same lands from year to year. 



Eradication of Wild Buckzvheat. 213 

Wild buckwheat is distributed by means 
of birds, wind and water, and to a greater 
extent probably through the agency of 
manure, the droppings of cattle and the 
seeds of cereals. 

Modes of Eradication. 

The following are the modes of eradica- 
tion that have been found most successful 
in dealing with wild buckwheat: 

1. Varying the rotation. Vary the rota- 
tion so that much greater prominence will 
be given for a time to meadow and pas- 
ture and to cultivated crops. It may be 
mentioned here that in the judgment of 
the writer, too little attention is given to 
the growth of cultivated crops in nearly all 
parts of the Northwest. If these were 
more extensively grown and suitably cared 
for, noxi'ous weeds would soon be mate- 
rially lessened. 

2. Growing cultivated crops. Grow cul- 
tivated crops and clean them so effectively 
that none of the seeds of the wild buck- 
wheat plants will mature. 

3. Sowing clean seed. Make sure that 
only clean seed is sown, and use special 
care in preparing: the seed of cereals for 



214 Weeds. 

sowing, or in purchasing the same for 
seed. 

4. Autumn cultivation. Plough the 
land immediately after harvest when pos- 
sible, to prevent the further maturing of 
the seeds. 

5. Harrowing cereal crops. Draw a light 
harrow possessed of many short teeth 
over the cereal crops when the plants of 
the wild buckwheat have appeared numer- 
ously above the surface of the ground. 
When the work is judiciously done it will 
be found very effective in relation to the 
labor expended. 

(5) CORN COCKLE. 

The corn cockle {Agrostennna githago), 
also called purple cockle or pink-flowered 
cockle, is a common annual weed in wheat 
fields. It does not commonly occur else- 
where, though it may grow in other grain. 
In the winter wheat district it is a winter 
annual. 

The plant grows from one to three feet 
high, usually with few branches ; the leaves 
are long and narrow, and the whole plant 
is thickly covered with silky hairs. The 
conspicuous purple or pinkish-purple flow- 



Description of Corn Cockle, 215 




CORN COCKLE. 



2i6 Weeds. 

ers are borne on the ends of the branches ; 
the calyx, which encloses the seed pod, 
becomes much swollen as the seed develops. 
The plant blooms in June and July, and 
ripens its seed with the grain. 

The rather large, somewhat flattened 
black seed occurs commonly in thrashed 
wheat, where it is easily recognizable and 
difficult to remove. This seed is particu- 
larly objectionable in wheat, as when it is 
ground with the grain, it gives the flour a 
dark color and unpleasant taste, and is said 
to be unhealthy. The seed is poisonous to 
chickens, hence screenings which contain it 
should not be fed to poultry. 

The white cockle (Lychnis alba) and the 
sticky cockle or night-flowering catchfly 
(Silene noctiHora), the former a white- 
flowered biennial and the latter a sticky, 
hairy annual with yellowish-white flowers, 
are closely related plants which sometimes 
occur in grain fields and meadows. A short 
rotation, with the rather frequent intro- 
duction of a thoroughly cultivated crop, 
will keep both these weeds in check. The 
methods of eradicating com cockle are 
equally effective in handling white cockle 
and night-flowering catchfly. 



Eradication of Corn Cockle. 217 

Modes of Eradication. 

1. Sow clean seed. The best method of 
preventing the growth of corn cockle in 
grain fields is to sow clean seed. When the 
weed is once introduced it is rather difficult 
to eliminate from wheat fields where the 
crop is grown continuously. Screening 
will remove some of the seeds from seed 
grain, but as they are nearly as large as a 
grain of wheat, they are difficult to elim- 
inate. 

2. Proper rotation. As corn cockle is an 
annual weed which soon gives way to thor- 
ough cultivation, a system of rotation which 
introduces a cultivated crop every two or 
three years will, if proper care is used in 
sowing clean seed grain, soon eliminate it. 

J. Hand pulling or spudding the plants 
which, occur in wheat fields, if they are not 
too numerous, is the surest way to check 
the spread of this weed. The conspicuous 
flowers make the plants easy to locate in 
the field, and as they are readily removed, 
this method is not as slow or difficult as 
might at first appear. 

4. Harrozving small grain in the spring 
when it first appears above the ground, and 



2i8 . Weeds. 

again when it is about three inches high, 
will kill cockle and many other weeds. This 
method is less effective on winter grains, as 
the cockle starts in the fall with the grain 
and many of the plants are too firmly estab- 
lished by spring to be removed by the 
harrow. Harrowing winter grains as soon 
as growth starts in the spring does kill 
many small weeds, however. 

Observations. While this weed is easy 
to eradicate if proper attention is given to 
the methods just outlined, it will be found 
to be quite persistent where wheat is the 
main crop and no rotation is followed, on 
account of the difficulty of removing the 
seeds of cockle from the seed grain, hence 
the necessity for exercising care in pre- 
venting its introduction through seed grain 
wherever possible. 

(6) WHEAT-THIEF. 

Wheat-thief (Lithospennitm arvense) is 
sometimes known as gromwell, pigeon 
weed, and redroot. It usually grows from 
eight to sixteen inches high, but sometimes 
in rich soils it becomes considerably taller. 
It is more or less branched in its habits of 
growth. Its leaves are narrow and about 



Description of Wheat-Thief. 219 

an inch long, and are noticeable from the 
fact that they are of a lighter tinge of green 
than those of the cereals and grasses. Its 
flowers are small, and white or of a pale 
cream color. Its seeds cluster along its 




WHEAT THIEF. 



stems, and are produced abundantly. They 
are endowed with much vitality. 

Wheat-thief is an annual, but like false 
flax, it usually comes up in the fall of the 



220 Weeds. 

year previous to that in which it matures 
its seeds. Its blossoms appear during the 
latter part of May or early in June, hence 
its seeds ripen before our meadows are 
ready for harvesting, or before our crops 
of winter cereals can be cut. It is so hardy 
a plant that frosts do not destroy it. It 
usually grows a little in advance of the crop 
in which it is found, hence its presence may 
most readily be detected just w^hen it is 
coming into blossom. The lighter shade 
which its leaves possess also enables it to 
be somewhat easily distinguished. It will 
grow in any kind of soil free from stag- 
nant water, but is most partial to sandy 
loams. 

Wheat-thief is most troublesome in crops 
which mature early, and have been sown 
the previous season, such as winter wheat, 
rye, and meadows. It is also found in pas- 
tures, but it seldom infests spring crops 
to any considerable extent, although some 
plants may survive the early cultivation nec- 
essary for the preparation of the ground 
for these crops. 

Wheat-thief is most commonly distrib- 
uted through the agency of the seeds of the 
winter cereals and of the seeds of timothy, 



Eradication of Wheat-Thief, 221 

mammoth clover, and alsike clover. It is 
not carried in the seed of common red clo- 
ver. It is further distributed by the drop- 
pings of cattle, by the manure of the farm- 
yard, by thrashing machines, and by birds. 

Modes of Eradication. 

The follov^^ing are the modes of eradica- 
tion that have been found most successful 
in dealing with wheat-thief : 

I. Modifying the rotation. Drop out of 
the rotation winter wheat, winter rye, and 
meadow crops, but not necessarily pas- 
tures, if these are kept eaten bare. The 
omission of these crops from the rotation 
need not continue for more than two or 
three seasons if due attention be given to 
autumn cultivation, as described in the next 
section. In respect to pastures that are 
infested, it will generally be sufficient to 
deal with them by means of hand pulling. 

p. Autumn cultivation. Give careful 
attention to autumn cultivation, for it is in 
the autumn that the seeds of this weed ger- 
minate most freely. The first plowing 
after harvest may be either shallow or deep, 
as may be desired. If the seeds of this 
weed have fallen numerously during the 



2'12 Weeds, 

harvesting of the immediately preceding 
crop, cultivating the surface soil will be 
preferable to plowing it. 

Specific Modes of Eradication. 

5. Grozving cultivated crops. Where the 
land is suitable, grow cultivated crops, or 
else grow rye and follow it by a cultivated 
crop. Where cultivated crops are grown 
alone, give careful attention to the autumn 
cultivation which precedes their sowing. 

4. Hand pulling and spudding. Where 
the weeds are not numerous, resort to hand 
pulling or spudding. This work, to be 
easily done, and to fully accomplish the end 
intended, should be undertaken while the 
plants are still in bloom. 

Observation. Whenever it may be nec- 
essary to sow to grass, then, as in the case 
of false flax, it should only be done with 
such crops as spring wheat, barley, and 
oats. 

(7) BLUEWEED. 

Blue weed (Echium vidgare) is a bien- 
nial. It is sometimes known as viper's bug- 
loss, but the more common name for it is 
blueweed. In the Southern States it is 



Description of Bluezveed. 22\ 

sometimes called the Canada thistle, 
although it bears but little resemblance to 
that weed. It is most common in Ontario, 
New York and the states to the southward. 

Blueweed is both upright and spreading 
in its habits of growth, each plant having 
several branches springing from a single 
stock. It grows to the height of from one 
to three feet, according to the character of 
the soil which it infests. Its leaves are 
rather large, and those which grow near- 
est the crown spread out so that they lie 
near the surface of the ground. Both 
leaves and stems are covered with numer- 
ous hairs, which stiffen with the advanc- 
ing growth of the plant, which explains 
why blueweed is not relished by live stock. 
These hairs are also far from agreeable to 
the touch when one tries to pull the plant. 
Its flowers are large, and of a deep, rich 
blue color, thus giving the fields where 
blueweed grows a very beautiful appear- 
ance at the season of the year when it is in 
bloom. 

Blueweed is a biennial. During the first 
season of its growth, it sends a strong tap 
root down deep into the ground, and from 
this several smaller roots branch off. Blue- 



224 



Weeds, 



weed does not blossom in its first year, but 
in the second year the stronger plants begin 
to come into bloom in the month of June, 
and the weaker ones later on, so that the 
period of bloom visually extends over sev- 
eral months. The blooming season is also 




BLUEWEED. 



extended by efforts made to eradicate the 
weed, for when it is cut off above the sur- 
face of the earth, as with the scythe, hori- 
zontal branches at once start out from the 
crown and soon begin to bloom and bear 
seed. Some of these newlv formed hori- 



Description of Bhiewecd. 22$ 

zontal branches hug the ground so closely 
that, when the field is gone over again with 
the scythe, it is not at all easy to cut them 
off ; as the same thing occurs with each cut- 
ting, as long as the growing period contin- 
ues, and as the weed is a very prolific seed 
producer, and as its seed is also very tena- 
cious of life, it follows that in places where 
cultivation is impossible, this pest is not a 
very easy one to deal with. 

Blueweed grows in various kinds of soil, 
but its favorite feeding grounds are those 
soils which contain much lime. It grows 
vigorously in gravelly soils, even in those 
which are suitable for use in road-making, 
hence we frequently find this plant growing 
right up to the travelled portions of the 
roads. 

As in the case of all or nearly all bien- 
nials blueweed is not very difficult to keep 
out of the cultivated portions of the farm, 
but it is a very different matter when we 
come to deal with it in fence borders, in 
permanent pastures, on road sides, and in 
waste places generally. In all these places 
blueweed soon finds a congenial home, from 
which it cannot- be easily dislodged. 



226 Weeds. 

As regards the distribution of blueweed, 
it is probable that the wind is the chief 
agency employed in effecting its spread 
from place to place. The seeds of blue- 
v/eed cling long to the receptacles in which 
they grow, but in winter or toward spring, 
the wind shakes many of them out of their 
receptacles and drives them for miles over 
the encrusted snows. This fact no doubt 
will generally account for the sudden 
appearance of blueweed in new centers, 
where previously it had not been known to 
exist. Blueweed is also probably distrib- 
uted to some extent by means of clover 
seed, where careless methods of farming 
allow it to mature its seeds while growing 
in meadows. 

Modes of Eradication. 

The following are the modes of eradica- 
tion that have been found most successful 
in dealing with blueweed : 

I. In ctdtivated fields. Really good cul- 
tivation will keep blueweed from getting 
much of a footing in the cultivated portions 
of the farm. When stray plants put in an 
appearance in a field that is not desired to 
be broken up that same season, the spud is 



Eradication of Bhieweed. 227 

the* most effective means for removing 
them. The spud should in all cases be 
made to go below the crown, for when the 
plant is cut oif below the crown at any 
stage of its growth, it will surely die, bur. 
not otherwise. 

2. In permanent pastures, zvaste places, 
lanes, etc. In permanent pastures, and in 
waste places generally, if the plant has got 
a strong foothold in them, it will be found 
that any plan that will keep it from matur- 
ing its seed will soon prove effective in 
destroying it. Whether the spud or the 
scythe be used must be determined by the 
number of the plants to be destroyed, but 
in either case the work will have to be done 
more than once in a season, and also for 
several seasons. It will have to be done 
more than once in a season becatise, when 
cut with a scythe, the plants at once spring 
up again and begin to blossom. When the 
spud is used, some weaker ones are certain 
to be overlooked in the first cutting, but 
these also will blossom and bear seed later 
on. The scythe or the spud will have to be 
used for several seasons, inasmuch as the 
seeds lying in the soil, being possessed of 



228 Weeds. 

considerable vitality, will continue to germ- 
inate for years. 

Observations. When fields containing 
blueweed are pastured closely early in the 
season, the production of the seeds will be 
very much hindered. This method will not 
alone be sufficient to eradicate the weed, 
however, for some of the plants will be sure 
to ripen their seeds unless some other 
method of eradication be employed. 

(8) THE WILD CARROT. 

The wild carrot (Daucus carota) is a 
biennial. It bears a close resemblance to 
the cultivated variety, more especially in 
the portions above ground. It has a tap 
root, which is more or less branched. 

The wild carrot comes up early in the 
season. It sends up long flower stems, 
which terminate in an umbel or flower clus- 
ter. It thus produces seeds very numer- 
ously, and when cut ofif by the scythe or 
otherwise it sends up other stems, and this 
continues to put forth the effort to produce 
seeds until late in the season. Owing to its 
acrid juices, live stock do not care to feed 
upon it. 



Description of the Wild Carrot. 229 

The wild carrot is not greatly trouble- 
some to crops where the usual cultivation 
is good. Like blueweed, it is more com- 
monly found in pastures, along roads and 
railroads, and in waste places generally, 
and to a. less extent in meadows. It grows 




THE WILD CARROT. 

most readily in vegetable soils, but it also 
flourishes in mild loams. 

The wild carrot is brought to new centers 
through the agency of railways, and to 
some extent by birds. Wind and water. 



230 Weeds. 

however, are the great agencies for carry- 
ing and scattering its seeds. 

Modes of Eradication. 

The following are the modes of eradica- 
tion that have been found most successful 
in dealing with the wild carrot : 

/. In cultivated fields. Give the arable 
portions of the farm good cultivation. If 
this be done, the wild carrot will soon cease 
to appear in them. 

2. In permanent pastures, lanes, zvaste 
places, etc. In pastures and waste places 
keep the plants cut down during the second 
year of their growth, cutting them off with 
the scythe as often as they attempt to 
mature their seeds. If this be done thor- 
oughly, at the end of two years all the 
plants will be destroyed. 

5. Using the spud. Where the plants 
are not too numerous, they may be destroy- 
ed with the spud by cutting them off below 
the crown at any stage of their growth. 



INDEX 



Agencies of weed distribution, 40; not under 
control, 55; partially under control, 56; 
wholly under control, 56. 

Alfalfa as aid in eradication, 80. 

Animals, farm, distribution by, 43; wild, 51. 

Annuals, 62; winter, 62. 

Autumn cultivation, 90. 

Bare fallow, use in weed eradication, 107; objec- 
tions to, 109. 

Biennial weeds, 64. 

Bindweed, description of, 206; eradication of, 209. 

Birds, distribution by, 50. 

Blueweed, description o£, 222; eradication of, 226. 

Buckhorn, description of, 203; eradication of, 205. 

Buckwheat, wild, description of, 210; dica- 

tion of, 213. 

Bugloss, viper's, 222. 

Burdock, descript-ion of, 133; eradication of, 136. 

Canada thistle, description of, 115; eradication 
of, 118. 

Carrot, wild, 228. 

Catchfly, night-flowering, 216. 

Cheat, eradication of, 187. 

Classes of weeds, 62; annuals, 62; biennials,. 64; 
perennials, 66. 

Cleaning farm of weeds, method of, 98. 

Cleaning seed grain, 16. 

Cleanliness, maintenance of, 96; cost of main- 
tenance, 33. 

Clean seed, use of, 74. 

Clover, aid in eradication of weeds, 80; seed as 
factor in distribution, 41. 

Cockle, 214; corn, description of, 214; eradica- 
tion of, 217; sticky, 216; white, 216. 



232 Index. 



Constant use of land, 87. 

Control of weeds, 31. 

Copper sulphate, use in spraying, 158. 

Corn cockle, description of, 214; eradication of, 
217. 

Cost of weed eradication, 28; in pastures, 123. 

Cost of crop production,, increased by weeds, 37. 

Cost of maintaining- clean fields, 33, 101. 

Couch grass, 176. 

Creeping perennials, 66. 

Cultivation, autumn, as method of eradication, 90. 

Cultivated crops as means of eradication, 78. 

Daisy, ox-ey^, eradication of, 127. 

Darnel, eradication of, 187. 

Distribution of weeds, 40; by animals, 43, 51; by 
birds, 50; by clover seed, 41; control of 
agencies of, 55; by farm animals, 43; by 
farm implements, 48; by feed-stuffs, 44; by 
floods, 51; by grain, 41; by grain screen- 
ings, 77; by grass seed, 41; by live stock, 
43; by manure, 45; by packing material^, 46; 
by railways, 50; by root-stocks, 54; by 
thrashing machines, 49; by tillage, 48; by 
vehicles, 47; by water, 51; by wild animals, 
51; by winds, 52. 

Dropseed grass, 179. 

Eradication of weeds, 58; abundant crop pro- 
duction an aid in, 88; use of alfalfa in, 80; 
use of annual pasture crops in, 93; by au- 
tumn cultivation, 90; by use of bare fallow, 
107; by use of clean seed, .74; by use of 
clover, 80; by constant use of land, 87: cost 
of, 26, 29, 122; by use of culHvated crops, 
78; by destruction of screenings and chaff, 
77; by home production of feeds, 85; by 
modifying rotation, 71; necessity for 
thorough work in, 95; possibility of, 21; by 
prevention of seeding, 91; by pasturing with 



Index. 233 

sheep, 84; by study of habits of growth, 62; 
by use of soiling crops, 82; by spraying/ise' 

Fallow, use in weed eradication, 107; objections 
to, 109. 

False flax, description of, 165; eradication of, 151 

Farm animals, distribution by, 43. 

Farm implements, distribution by, 48. 

Feedg, home production of, 85. 

Feed stuffs, distribution by, 44. 

Fermentation of manure, 111. 

Fertility, increase of, as means of eradication, 88 

Floods, distribution by, 51. 

Food value of weeds, 19. 

Foxtail„ description of, 191; eradication of, 194. 

Freedom from weeds, increase of profit by, 36. 

Frenchweed, description of, 168; eradication of, 
151. 

Grain, cleaning- for seed, 16; screenings, dis- 
tribution of weeds by, 77; seea, distribution 
by, 41. 

Grass, couch, 176; dropseed, 179; pigeon, 191; 
quack, 176; scutch, 176; summer, 191; 
vanilla,, 179; wheat, 179. 

Grasses, eradication of weedy, 175. 

Grass family, weeds of, 175. 

Grass seed, distribution of weeds in, 41. 

Grazing with sheep, eradication by, 84, 93. 

GromweU, 218. 

Home production of feeds .as means of eradica- 
tion, 85. 

Implements, distribution by, 48. 

Increase in farm profits, 36, 

Injuries from presence of weeds, 13; by crowd- 
ing, 15; harbor for insects, 16; for plant dis- 
eases, 16; by increasing cost of cleaning 
grain, 16; by shading, 15; by effect on 
rotation, 18; by use of moisture, 14; by use 
of plant food. 14. 



234 Index. 



Insects, harbored by weeds, 16. 

Iron sulphate, use in spraying-, 156. 

Kinghead, description of, 141; eradication of, 146. 

Lettuce, wild, 137. 

Live stock, factor in distribution, 43. 

Machinery for spraying, 159. 

Machines, thrashing, cleaning before use, 76; 
distribution by,, 49. 

Manure, distribution by, 45; fermentation of. 111. 

Method, of cleaning farm, 98; of using spud, 105. 

Methods, adapted to conditions, 72; of eradica- 
tion, general, 58. 

Modification of rotation, 71. 

Moisture, use of, by weeds, 14, 

Morning glory, wild, 206. 

Multiplication of weeds, 11. 

Mustard, eradication o% 151; tumbling, 171; 
wild, 161. 

Mustard family, weeds of, 149. 

Night-flowering catchfly, 216. 

Number of weed species, 9. 

Oat, wild, description of, 183; eradication of, 187. 

Ox-eye daisy, description of, 127; eradication ot, 
130. 

Packing material, distribution by, 46. 

Pastures, cost of eradication in, 123; use of an- 
nual in eradication, 93. 

Pennycress, description of, 168. 

Peppergrass, eradication of, 151. 

Perennials, 66; creeping, 66. 

Pigeon grass, 191. 

Pigeon weed, 218. 

Plantain, description of, 202; eradication of, 205. 

Plant diseases, harbor for, 16. 

Plant food, use of by weeds, 14. 

Prevalence of weeds, 7. 

Prevention of seeding, 91. 

Production, increase of cost of, 37; prevention of 
seed, 91. 



Index. 235 



Profits, increase by freedom from weeds, 36. 

Purple cockle, 214. 

Quack grass, description of, 176; eradication of, 
179. 

Radish, wild, eradication o£, 151. 

Rag-weed, description of, 141; eradication of, 146. 

Railways, distribution by, 50. 

Redroot, 218. 

Root-stocks, distribution by, 54. 

Rotation, effect on, 18; modifying, 71. 

Russian thistle, description of, 196; eradication 
of. 200. 

Salt, use of, in spraying, 156. 

Screenings, distribution by, 77. 

Scutch grass, 176. 

Seed, clean, use of, 74. 

Seed grain, distribution by,. 41. 

Seed production, pre-vention of, 91. 

Shading, injury to crops by, 15. 

Shepherd's purse, eradication of, IFl. 

Sheep,, use of in weed eradication, 84; grazing off 
annual crops with, 93. 

Soiling crops, use in weed eradication, 82. 

Sow thistle, description of, 124; eradicaton of, 
126. 

Spraying, as means of eradication, 156; cost of, 
160; machinery, 159; materials, 158. 

Spud, description of, 104; method of using, 105; 
use of, 99. 

Spudding, cost of, 101. 

Sticky cockle, 216. 

Stinkweed, 168. 

Summer grass, 191. 

Thistle, Canada, description of, 115; eradication 
of, 118; Russian, description of, 196; eradi- 
cation of, 200; sow, description of, 124; 
eradication of, 126. 

Thistle family, weeds of, 113. 



236 



Index. 



Thrashing machines,, cleaning before use, 76; 
distribution by, 49. 

Tillage, distribution by, 48. 

Time to spray, 157. 

Tumbling mustard, description of, 171; eradica- 
tion of, 151. 

Vanilla grass, 179. 

Vehicles, distribution by>, 47. 

Viper's bugloss, 222. 

Water, distribution by, 51. 

Weeds, distribution of, 40; eradication of, 58; 
injuries from, 13; multiplication of, 11; num- 
ber of species of,, 9. . 

Wheat grass, 179. 

Wheat thief, description of, 218; eradication of, 
221. 

White cockle, 216. 

Wild animals, distribution by, 51. 

Wild buckwheat, description of, 210; eradica- 
tion of. 213. 

Wild carrot, description of, 228; eradication of, 
230. 

Wild flax, description of, 165; eradication of, 
151. 

Wild lettuce, description of, 137; eradication ot, 
140. 

Wild morning glory, description of, 206; eradi- 
cation of, 209. 

Wild mustard, description of, 161; eradication of, 
151. 

Wild oat, description of, 183; eradication of, 187. 

Wild radish, eradication of, 151. 

Winds, distribution by, 52, 

Winter annuals, 62. 



PRACTICAL FARM BOOKS. 

This list of books is compiled to give home seek- 
ers the most practical information pertaining to the 
farm. Every book written in such a manner as to 
be easily understood by the amateur as well as the 
practical farmer. With a library of good farm 
books at your command you have the first assets for 
a profitable homestead. 

POPULAR FRUIT GROWING. 

A book that explains the factors of successful 
fruit growing and orchard protection, insects 
injurious to fruits, diseases injurious to fruits, 
how to spray, harvest and market. The prin- 
ciples of plant growth. Propagation of fruit 
plants, etc. Every method outlined is practical 
and carefuly illustrated so that the explanation 
will be easily understood. 300 pages, cloth cov- 
er. Postpaid $1.00 

VEGETABLE GARDENING. 

A coinplete book which explains the methods of 
growing vegetables for home use and the market.. 
Any person contemplating entering the truck gar- 
dening field will find this book a source of infor- 
mation that will result in diminishing labor and 
increasing the profits. Price, cloth cover, $1.00; 

paper, postpaid $ .50 

AMATEUR FRUIT GROWING. 

Is a practical book compiled especially for the 
use of beginners and is written with special ref- 
erence to cold climates. This book is not intend- 
ed to enter the field of scientific fruit growing. 

Price, cloth cover, $ .50; paper $ .25 

ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. 

Is a complete and thorough treatise on practical 
agriculture, animal breeding and kindred sub- 
jects. It explains the fundamental principles of 
farming and is of incalculable value to beginners 
and contains many valuable suggestions to prac- 
tical farmers. Price, postpaid $1.00 

FARM WINDBREAKS AND SHELTER BELTS. 

This book treats on the caring of trees, the meth- 
ods of planting, the care and general description 
of the most suitable varieties for windbreaks and 
shelter belts. Complete information for practical 
tree growing and directions from seed to maturity. 

Paper cover, postpaid $ .25 

FARMERS' HANDY MANUAL. 

A 52 page book treating on the feeding and care 
of dairy cows. Valuable information for the be- 
ginner. Paper cover. Price $ .25 



EVERGREENS AND HOW TO GROW THEM. 

Owiivg to the constant demand for a manual treat- 
ing on the growth and development of evergreens 
has resulted in the publishing of this complete 
guide to selection, growth, and care of evergreens 
from seed to nursery. It also touches on the sub- 
ject of windbreaks and hedges. Cloth cover, 
$ .50 ; paper cover $ '25 

THE HOME BEAUTIFUL. 

A book about flowers, both for ornamental and 
commercial culture. No home is complete without 
some of Nature's beauties and this book, known 
also as "The Gold Mine in the Front Yard," ex- 
plains the cultivation, use and care of flowers, 
most practical in farming communities. 280 
pages, cloth bound $1.00 

GRASSES, AND HOW TO GROW THEM. 

The name implies the character of this book. Ex- 
plains the culture of all the principal grasses in 
America. How to make hay; temporary and per- 
manent pastures, etc. 453 page book, cloth bound. 
Price $1.50 

WEEDS, AND HOW TO ERADICATE THEM. 

A fine edition which should be in the hands of 
every practical farmer. Gives the name and de- 
scription of the most troublesome weed pests and 
methods of destroying them. Cloth cover, $ .50; 
paper cover $ .25 

SWINE BREEDERS* MANUAL,. 

This is practically a complete veterinary book 
with 500 questions about swine answered. This 
book also treats on the subject of diseases and 
carefully compares the different breeds and touch- 
es upon feeding and pasturing. Paper cover. 
Price $ .25 

FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF LIVE STOCK. 

A very interesting and instructive series of lec- 
tures on the principles of feeding, breeding, man- 
agement, and marketing of cattle, sheep and 
swine. 100 pages of concrete facts that should 
be in the possession of every man contemplating 
farming. Price, cloth cover $1.00 

STANDARD BLACKSMITHING, HORSESHOEING AND 
WAGON MAKING. 

The latest and most complete book on the prac- 
tical work of blacksmithing, describing how to 
make tools as well as to use them. Cloth bound $1.00 

FARM BLACKSMITHING. 

A complete treatise on blacksmithing, written 
particularly for amateur farmers who want a 
work shop where they can profitably spend stormy 
days. 100 pages, cloth bound $.50 



TANNING GLIDE. 

Explains how to tan hides by use of different 
methods in from ten minutes to six weeks 
Complete recipes for making your own solutions 
most successful methods explained in full. Price $ .25 

POULTRY BOOKS. 

Contain reliable information on every point in 
practicable and fancy poultry keeping on a large or 
small scale on a city lot, village place, or the farm. 

EGG MONEY; HOW TO INCREASE IT. 

A reliable 130 page book devoted to the profit- 
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ed for their phenomenal success. Price . S 2fi 

POULTRY MANUAL. * 

A guide to successful poultry culture in all its 
branches, fancy and practical. Breeding and feed- 
ing; diseases and remedies; how to make farm 
poultry pay. 14 8 pages of facts worth knowing. 
Cloth cover, $ .50; paper S 25 

POULTRY HOUSES, COOPS AND EQUIPMENT. * 

Describing coops, fixtures and poultry utensils 
for the farm and includes the newest plans for 
building practical up-to-date poultry houses 
Price « 2K 

CHICfiS; HATCHING AND REARING. .' .' ' 

A manual of dependable instructions in incubat- 
ing, brooding, housing and developing layers and 
winners; fattening, killing and marketing broil- 
ers and roasting chickens. 126 page book of 
practical chick facts. Price « 2K 

TURKEYS, DUCKS AND GEESE. ' 

How to breed, hatch, rear, fatten, dress, market, 
develop, feed, show and sell for all purposes.' 
The information contained in this book will en- 
able anyone to succeed in this work and save dis- 
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pages. Price ' » ra 

SIMPLE POULTRY REMEDIES. 

Describes the various diseases of the poultry 
yard and gives the most effective remedies for 
acute and well developed diseases. This book 
will save its price the first time any of the reme- 
dies are applied. Price ^ ,26 

COOK BOOKS. 

NEW BUCKEYE COOK BOOK. 

Contains 12S8 pages of the best kitchen recipes 
procurable; 5,000 recipes in all. This is the larg- 
est and most complete cook book ever published. 
la addition to the large number of recipes, it 
contains medical and nursery notes of incalculable 

value to the housewife. Price $2.50 

(Agents Wanted) 



TRADE EDITION OR ORIGINAL BUCKEYE COOK BOOK. 

Contains 689 pages. Contains about one-half of 
the recipes listed in the "New Buckeye Cook 
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for $1.50 

THE COUNTRY KITCHEN. 

A cook book containing 900 tried and tested 
recipes suited to the country and contributed by 
readers of our agricultural paper, "The Farmer." 
The most practical small cook book on the mar- 
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(Agents Wanted) 

FARM BOOKS. 

Farmers' Account Book and Farm Record, net $2.25 

Bookkeeping for Farmers 25 

Barn Plans and Out Buildings 1.00 

Cottage Houses . 1.00 

Homes for Home Builders 1.00 

A. B. C. and X. Y. Z. of Bee Culture 1.50 

Mysteries of Bee Keeping Explained . 1.00 

Veterinary Elements 1.50 

Diseases of Horses and Cattle 1.75 

Feeds and Feeding 2.00 

Diseases ©f Swine 2.00 

Swine in America, net 2.50 

Farm Live Stock of Great Britain, net 5.00 

Profitable Dairying 75 

Judging Live Stock 1.50 

Creamery Accounting 1.00 

Cattle Breeding 2.00 

Practical Forestry 1.50 

Beautifying Country Homes 10.00 

Garden Making 1.00 

Practical Floriculture 1.50 

Spraying Crops 50 

Spraying of Plants, net 1.50 

Agriculture with Some of Its Relations with Chemistry, 

(3 volumes), net $5.00 

Pruning Book, net 1.50 

Field Notes on Apple Culture, net 2.00 

The Potato 30 

Gardening for Profit 1-50 

The Soil 1.00 

Principles of Agriculture, net 1.50 

Physics of Agriculture, net 1.75 

How to Make a Garden Pay 1.00 

Soiling Crops and the Silo 1.50 

Forage Crops and Fibre Crops in America 1.75 

Fertility of the Land, net 1.50 

Farm Machinery and Farm Motors 2.00 

Manual of Corn Judging 50 

Cereals in America 1.75 

Alfalfa, Book of, 2.00 



M-R 6 iSII 



V^iA 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



APR e 191 1 



